2018 is starting off strong! Great news for Synbio start ups, new biotech application and lots of Synbio events coming up! Check out our Top10 of BactToTheFuture stories!

  1. Hacking microbes: the business of the future is here to stay

The company Ginkgo bioworks has been all over the news in the last months. This biotech has managed to raise $429 million and it is currently valued at over $1 billion! This figures show how synthetic biology is becoming a very promising business to exploit the whole potential of engineered microorganism. Read more>

  1. Like miniature superheroes, these #bacteria have real super powers!

We know that we are crazy about microbes but these ones are undeniably amazing! Magnetic, electric, glowy or extremely resistant! Check out the features of these tiny superheroes! Read more>

  1. Enzymes are a huge business, and #bacteria can help us make the most out of it!

Enzymes can do anything! They are responsible for the proper functioning of all the cellular reactions within living organisms and in industrial settings, they can help us obtain products like wine, cheese, medicines or even washing powder! It is clear how these vital and useful proteins have become and huge business and thus more and more biotechs are using microorganisms to produce them!
Read more >

  1. Improving gene circuits to transform #bacteria into miniature drug factories

Inspired by electronics, synthetic biologists worldwide are trying to transform microorganisms into highly predictable and regulable factories. Just recently, researchers from the Rice University have developed a new toolking to finetune the inputs and outputs of genetic circuits using gene promoters of E. coli as genetic switches! Read more >

  1. Interested in #biotech but lost in the financial jargon? Don’t worry, this crash course from @Labiotech_eu will help you learn all the basics

Seed funding, venture capital, return on invest…if you are also struggling with the financial jargon that comes with being new to biotech don’t worry, you are not alone. At Labiotech.eu they are well aware of this problem, and that is why they have prepared this summary with the basic concepts to get you started in the industrial world. Read more >

  1. #Bacteria learn from leaves to become tiny photosynthetic plants! A great animation by @Nature #SynBio

Plants are naturally able to transform sunlight and carbon dioxide into useful chemicals. Inspired by their photosynthetic power, a team of German researchers has engineered microbes to mimic plants and produce compounds through artificial photosynthesis. A very sustainable approach that could have a great impact in the industry if it gets applied at large scale. Watch the video >

  1. Blue jeans, green fashion! This is how indigo-producing #microbes can revolutionise the dyeing industry!

Denim remains one of the most used materials worldwide and obtaining its characteristic blue colour comes at a very high environmental cost. Looking for sustainable alternatives to the chemical production of indigo, scientists from the University of California at Berkeley have engineered indigo-producing microbes that offer a greener way of staining or blue jeans!  Read more >

  1. Bruges becomes a #Synbio hub hosting the third edition of the #SGESB18 conference!

After a little break in the Synbio events over the holidays, the conference season just started! This time it was the turn of Brugges, that hosted the third edition of the Genome Engineering and Synthetic Biology conference organised by the VIB research institute.
Read more >

 

And to have a year full of SynBio moments, our last two selected tweets of the month are about upcoming summer schools! choose your favourite date and learn from international experts!

 

  1. The #SynBio agenda starts getting busy! Just two weeks left to register for the @EssexSynBio summer school that will take place this july! Great speakers and programme, hurry up! Read more >

 

  1. Are you an early bird? Start planning your next summer with this #SynBio Summer School! @imprs_mpicbg  Read more >