The Synthetic Biology mashup is a weekly review of articles and pieces of news related to synthetic biology. While we share most of this on our twitter feed, if you need to catch up on this week’s headlines just read ahead!
Possible Impact of the Nagoya Protocol on SynBio
Concerns were raised by the Woodrow Wilson International Center on the potential impact that the Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity devised by the United Nations in 2010, could have on synthetic biology research. The Nagoya protocol aim is to offer a transparent legal framework for the distribution of genetic resources. But with synthetic biology working on novel grounds and uncertainties surrounding what sort of genetic material is covered, the Nagoya Protocol could potentially have a significant impact on synthetic biology research. An event is to be held at Woodrow Wilson Center on November 8th to discuss this, and will be webcast live.
Membrane Pores Created out of DNA strands
University College London in collaboration with University of Cambridge and Southampton pioneered a new way to create membrane pores, entities located on the outer layer of cells controlling biochemical flux. Pores are normally made of proteins, but to create artificial pores this study used a radical approach by using DNA nanotechnologies and harvesting the base-pairing properties of DNA molecules to create channels. This work could find significant applications in drug discovery and could provide a new way for drugs to enter a cell.
New £10M fund to support early stage synthetic biology startups in the UK
On the 6th of November a new £10M investment fund managed by Midven in association with the Rainbow Seed Fund was launched for entrepreneurial scientists working in synthetic biology in the UK. This initiative launched by BBSRC and the UK Business Secretary Vince Cable is a response to the 2012 Synthetic Biology Roadmap to help small companies often struggling to succeed making useful products, tools and services from scientific research. Mr. Cable further confirmed the British Business fund will be able to provide debt finance from 2014, in order to bypass the banks that have often turned their back on SMEs. These financial supports are backed-up with mentoring, pairing small business with successful business owners.
SynBio Consulting Speaks Up about the Need for Synthetic Biology trade Associations
This week we published on our blog an article highlighting the need for Synthetic Biology trade associations, as the field is constantly increasing in both number of participants, and knowledge pool. Such associations could improve the human resource and the industry knowledge bases, set and enforce industry standards and help communicate with governmental bodies.
New Partnership between China and University of Warwick Announced
After Nottingham, Edinburgh, Manchester and UCL, the University of Warwick also partners with scientists at Chinese institutions through the Synthetic Biology China Partnering Award from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, after receiving £25 000. The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Warwick University have already teamed up to identify novel antibiotics.
iGEM Competition Finals Results
This past week-end the finals of iGEM (international Genetically Engineered Modified) competition occurred in MIT, and once again students surprised everyone with a plethora of innovative projects. For the first time this year the teams were divided into undergraduates and overgraduates, with 244 projects being presents in just a couple of days.
The Paris Bettencourt team won the Grand prize in the postgraduate division, along with the Best Health and Medicine project. They found a way to tackle tuberculosis in four steps: Detect, Target, Infiltrate and Sabotage, using a killer E. coli, a bacteriophage silencer and a “magic” handkerchief. Their project was accompanied by a very interesting gender study showing balanced teams do better at the competition. Other notable projects are the NYMU-Taipei team that was awarded the Best Environment Project by attacking a parasite, Nosema ceranae, that has caused the bee populations to decline significantly, using a modified Bee coli. The first runner-ups, Bielefeld Germany proposed a self-constructed fuel cell as an alternative energy source and the second runner-ups, SYSU China devised a synthetic biology software to facilitate parts design.
Heidelberg University won undergradate Grand Prize, along with the Best Foundational Advance Project. They created a biological philosopher’s stone, a way to recycle gold from electronic waste using non-ribosomal peptide synthetases enzymes. They devised a very modular apporoch to alter and create different customised peptides along with developing a software for in silico design. Other notable teams in the undergraduate division are the Valencia team which won the Best New Application Project, with their “wormboys”, a modified E. coli capable of riding a nematode worm. This would potentially allows biotechnologically interesting bacteria to more easily reach nutrient-rich biomass spots and maximize the efficiency of biotechnological fermentations in heterogeneous substrates. Imperial College also investigated into plastic and were second runner-ups with their nacteria capable of turning mixed waste into bioplastic. The first runner-ups, TU Munich proposed a transgenic moss for the enzymatic degradation of water pollutants.
The weekend was filled with eagerness and excitation and the overall scientific level seems to be going up. Behold, the next generation of Synthetic Biologist is coming fast!
That’s it for this week’s Synthetic Biology Mashup! A suggestion or a question? Shoot us an email.
