In 2001, Celera Genomics and the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium published their initial drafts of the human genome, which revolutionized the field of genomics. While these drafts...

A whole new category of generative AI is emerging as LLMs learn the language of life.

We propose that SARS-CoV-2, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic, likely derives from a disease outbreak in a mine in Yunnan province, China, in 2012.

There’s compelling evidence that Japan, Hong Kong, and other East Asian locales are doing it right and we should really, truly mask up—fast.

Author summary Questions regarding the impact of chromosome structure on genome function are focusing increasingly on the manner in which chromosomes are organized within the nucleus. In fact,...

Removing cellular transfer RNAs (tRNAs), making their cognate codons unreadable, creates a genetic firewall that prevents viral replication and horizontal gene transfer. However, numerous viruses and...

Congress is grappling with the security concerns of the DNA synthesis revolution.

From the glory days of print magazines to 2020’s Twitter-crazed news cycles, Sharon Begley won more awards and accolades than could fit in an obituary. The accomplishments she was prouder of were...

New tool broadens ability to program stem cells, study SARS-CoV-2

Nature Communications - Transcription factor over-expression-based cellular conversion methods often endure low conversion efficiency. Here the authors show how to increase conversion efficiency by...

With $15 million in private funding, Colossal aims to bring thousands of woolly mammoths back to Siberia. Some scientists are deeply skeptical that will happen.

XPRIZE Healthspan is a 7-year, $101 million global competition to revolutionize the way we approach human aging.

A more relevant metric to gauge the success of the scientific enterprise is the extent to which advances — whether incremental or totally novel — translate into real human impact.

GenapSys’ sequencing system is about the size of an iPad, costs under $10,000, and is based on a proprietary direct electronic sequencing chip, which is intended to eliminate the need for cumbersome...

One night last fall, Floris Engelhardt sat down in her Boston apartment and logged onto a Zoom call, armed with a comic and a vague idea about starting a biotech. Engelhardt was joining a student-run

Every idea needs a Medium

She worked in top labs at Stanford and Harvard. Now she wants to disrupt a 100-Billion-Dollar market by rejuvenating your skin using genetic engineering.

Ultrafast and ultracheap sequencing could reshape the future of health care.

Colossal Biosciences is adding the famously dead bird to a de-extinction agenda that already includes the woolly mammoth

This Panorama documentary on CRISPR and gene editing, which I researched and co-produced, ran on 6 June 2016. A news piece around one of the stories featured in…

Nabla Bio Closes $11M Seed Financing led by Khosla Ventures and Zetta Venture Partners

Our challenge is to prevent the immense power of biotechnology from being misused. Historical pandemics killed tens of millions of people, and engineered agents could be even more destructive.

Church Lab Page: https://arep.med.harvard.edu/Harvard Personal Genome Project (PGP): https://pgp.med.harvard.edu/aboutMusic by: Ben McKeeLogo: Makya MillerEd...

For nearly 50 years, the vision of using single molecules in circuits has been seen as providing the ultimate miniaturization of electronic chips. ...

Data from two Arctic sites suggest some surface layers are no longer freezing. If that continues, greenhouse gases from permafrost could accelerate climate change.

SwabSeq TLDR

Immediate lockdown for reducing spread of COVID-19

Scientists and ethicists have called for a five-year moratorium on editing human genes that will pass on to future generations. Yes, society needs to figure out how to proceed – but is this the best...

Nature - Viral load is roughly 1,000 times higher in people infected with the Delta variant than those infected with the original coronavirus strain, according to a study in China.

Morgan Freeman, Lori McCreary and Jay Firestone are partnering with CRISPR pioneer George Church to develop and produce a dramatic series.

This announcement reverses the CDC's previous advice.

DNA plasmids are an essential tool for delivery and expression of RNAs and proteins in cell culture experiments. The preparation of plasmids typically involves a laborious process of bacterial...

Groups of scientists tasked with identifying pandemic-prone microbes were stretched too far and thin

Study overview Researchers at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and Harvard’s Personal Genome Project (PGP) are studying how memory is anchored in DNA. Insight into these gene-memory…

In this instalment of Teach Me in 10, Professor George Church, a pioneer of genomics and synthetic biology, treats us to a topic that he hasn't actually presented on publicly before: molecular and...

Scientists who tested a variety of cloth face masks found that a nylon overlay significantly boosted how well they work. Researchers not involved in the study praised the finding.

Approximately one-half of all rare diseases affect children Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senators Susan...

Despite hearing that face masks “don’t work,” you probably haven’t seen any strong evidence to support that claim.

No other animal is as inexorably linked with extinction as the dodo, an odd-looking flightless bird that lived on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean until the late 17th century.

Nature Communications - Thorough evaluation of CRISPR RNA-guided nucleases off-targets in cells is required for advancing gene therapies. Here the authors report SURRO-seq for the simultaneous...

Easy to use. Hard to control. The intelligence community now sees CRISPR as a threat to national safety.

William Trubridge is shredding world records in free diving. Is the secret to his success lurking in his genome? Part one of three.

Abstract. Summary: The number of human genomes that have been sequenced completely for different individuals has increased rapidly in recent years. Storing

Human infants are born to breastfeed. While 50% of lactating persons struggle to make enough milk, there are no governmentally-approved drugs to enhance lactation[1][1]. Here, we engineer a variant...

The world is facing unprecedented challenges. At the time of writing, the coronavirus COVID-19 has infected over 3.57 million people globally and as of the 4th of May  250,134 people have died,...

The management of pandemics such as COVID-19 requires highly scalable and sensitive viral diagnostics, together with variant identification. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has many attractive...

Advances in biology in the past decade can provide the tools we need to revolutionize the testing process.

Reshaping the gene therapy landscapewith AI-powered vectors

Top officials from three administrations describe how crucial lessons were learned and lost, programs launched and canceled, and budgets funded and defunded.

Find out why Colossal Biosciences is on the list

Is genetically engineered food dangerous? Many people seem to think it is. In the past five years, companies have submitted more than 27,000 products t ...

'The Code Breaker' is a captivating exploration of geneticist Jennifer Doudna's life, and her life-changing scientific discovery.

None - Elephas maximus indicus (Asiatic elephant)

I think I have seen enough. We cannot fight an exponential rise with linear thinking and processes. And yet, this is what we keep doing. On that optimistic note, some background for those of you who...