Nature has held our delicate global ecosystem in the balance for millennia, so it’s no surprise that scientists and entrepreneurs consistently look to nature for answers to one of humankind’s most difficult challenges:...
Author - Fiona Mischel
Getting started: Building synthetic biology companies in the US and the UK
Synthetic biology is one of the most exciting and fastest growing industries in the world. But the field is developing differently in different regions of the world. Recently, SynBioBeta discussed the current state of...
How biomanufacturing can make living on Mars a reality
The wheels are in motion to send the first humans to Mars. For many, the first image that calls to mind may be of a spaceship touching down in a vast, red desert. But arriving on Mars is only half the picture. People...
Could carbon sequestration be the future of agriculture?
Across the globe, scientists, innovators, and entrepreneurs are racing to develop strategies to mitigate our climate crisis. One of the most tantalizing solutions is carbon capture and sequestration—removing carbon...
International Space Station tests a new approach to fight the growing threat of antibiotic resistance
Antibiotic resistance is a growing global crisis. The World Health Organization found that “antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world” and the Center for Disease Control called...
Synthetic biology breaks out of the cell
Cells are one of nature’s greatest feats of engineering. They contain within the instructions for the entire lifecycle of our bodies. They are a critical building block for all life on Earth. But they also have their...
With the recent patent news, who owns CRISPR now?
CRISPR gene-editing technology promises to be one of the most significant scientific and medical breakthroughs in modern history. Its precision and relative ease-of-use have already transformed how scientists study...
A bold strategy for saving our world
Novel nitrogen sources allow us to radically rethink how we produce food and materials for humankind. Agriculture has come a long way in the last 100 years, due in large part to the invention of synthetic nitrogen...
The CRISPR twins: bioethics for the gene-editing age
The discovery of CRISPR technology brought the bioethics of altering human DNA to the forefront. And rightly so. CRISPR is a powerful tool, potentially capable of changing who we are at our genetic core. In light of...
Farming on Mars: A future for synthetic biology off Earth
Climate change is rapidly altering the stability of our delicate ecosystem. We face the pressing challenge of providing food for almost 8 billion people even as arable land diminishes. Many scientists look to our home...
