synthetic-biology

LONGEVITY DAY — a science-fiction trailer for the Future Vision XPRIZE. In 2035, an eighty-eight-year-old biologist with cancer and failing memory fights to restart the AI-assisted rejuvenation research that may be her last chance — three years after a catastrophic AI failure nearly convinced the world to abandon frontier research altogether. A story about making […]

In 2029, a terminally ill woman chooses cryopreservation rather than accept the finality of death. She wakes forty-four years later, into a world she does not recognise — and to a promise someone kept across four decades. A story about coming back, and about whether the future is worth coming back for. Written, directed and […]

IntroductionAlzheimer’s disease is a complex neurodegenerative illness strongly associated with oxidative stress, which requires immediate intervention for therapeutic agents with potent antioxidant properties.MethodsIn this work, novel derivatives based on benzofuran and pyrazole scaffolds were designed and assessed for their antioxidant potential and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity. Th…

An artificial intelligence startup called Astromech that’s developing models that can predict biological change has raised $20 million in funding, lifting its valuation to $3.8 billion. The round was led by biotechnology investor Bob Nelsen and saw the participation of Peak 6, NeoGenesis Capital, Builders VC and CAZ Investments, bringing the company’s total amount raised […] The post Astromech ra…

Proteins form complex three-dimensional shapes and can join together to create larger structures. Researchers want to utilize these properties to make artificial materials. However, arranging proteins and synthetic molecules together with a high level of structural precision is no easy task. This is...

At its core, a lot of modern technology depends on relatively simple patterns to receive and relay information. Incidentally, living things have also functioned this way for billions of years—a comparison that hasn’t gone unnoticed by engineers. In electrical circuits, transistors switch or amplify electric signals, but researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have swapped in elec…

Published on August 20, 2026 1:54 PM GMT After being invested in AIxBio for some time now, I have accepted it as my niche mainly because I love dealing with fields that has high risk and where getting things right genuinely matters. And to me, biology represents the highest end of that spectrum. While I have a deep knowledge in building computing systems and security in cloud, I lack the groundin…

Published on August 20, 2026 1:00 PM GMT In May 2025 I met Yo Shavit , who was working on national security policy at OpenAI and was thinking about how to prepare for a future in which models could seriously assist attackers in creating pandemics. We had a call, and when I shared notes with my team their main response was: "maybe start with not making models that can do that?" Which is, in many w…

In this GEN webinar, speakers from Flock Bio and Ribbon Bio will explore how bench-based, cell-free DNA production can complement expertise in custom DNA design and manufacturing. The post Built Without Bacteria: Bringing Cell-Free Synthesis to the Bench appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News .

From cancer cells to climate-resilient trees: how CRISPR is transforming research at VIB From decoding gene function to tackling cancer and building a sustainable future, VIB researchers are using CRISPR to push the boundaries of life science. A cancer cell escaping therapy. A yeast cell revealing the secrets of gene regulation. A poplar tree engineered without introducing foreign DNA. At first g…

The CoA ligase from Metallosphaera sedula (MsACL) can be used for the chemoenzymatic synthesis of amides from carboxylic acids. In this CoA-independent conversion, the enzyme catalyzes the adenylation of a carboxylic acid with the help of ATP, followed by the uncatalyzed cleavage of acyl-AMP by a nucleophilic amine to yield an amide. With ω-amino acids as substrates this reaction may result in fo…

The walls of your house could someday be built with living bacteria. Synthetic biologists are engineering microbes into living materials that are cheap and sustainable.