Back from your summer break? Don’t be sad, we want to make your return to work as bearable as possible so we have gathered August’s best BactToTheFuture stories for you!

1 These companies will revolutionise the way we eat thanks to #SyntheticBiology Hoppy beer without the hops, sugar-free sweets, or fungi-derived pet food are just some of the products that we may be able to purchase in a near future. How? Combining microorganisms and synthetic biology! Sustainable products that can really make a difference! Learn more >

2 The complete #Synbio patent landscape is just one click away! Don’t miss this guide with all the insights of the field! #Biotech By @PatSnap
Discover all the latest breakthroughs in synbio and the pioneering companies leading the field. Learn all about the market, its trends and the countless applications of synbio with this report. Free to download and just one click away! Learn more > 

3 This dog painting is very much alive! Incredible #AgarArt made with #bacteria 🐶🔬
There are a lot of artists out there that delight us every month with their #AgarArt creations, but this piece from Taylor Gwinn really left us speechless! She did this great portrait of her service dog Vic, no wonder she won the AMS 2018 People’s Choice price!

4 With these tools we feel like going back to school! Amazing educational kits to learn all about #synbio!
The central dogma of molecular biology appears in every text book but really grasping the meaning and impact of this concept is not an easy task in a classroom. With these mini-lab in a box students can perform easy experiments with DNA and produce glowing proteins or scents. Hands-on biology to motivate the younger generations. Read more > 

5 The Gene Machine is nothing new! Why did the DNA synthesiser never take off? Check out this post to learn all about the history of this invention!
A machine that synthesises DNA, the molecule of life! For most this may sound like science fiction, but this invention has been out there since the 80’s. Far from been able to synthesise big DNA molecules to design new organisms, researchers have mostly used these machines to synthesise small DNA pieces or oligos for PCRs. The story started changing in the 2000 with the dropping prices of DNA sequences and to date companies worldwide are working to exploit all the potential of this invention. What will the future hold? Read more >

6 The #AwesomeMicrobes are everywhere, even in your food!
You just have to look around to find fascinating microbes. Actually you probably eat microbe-derived products almost every day! Like expert chefs, microbes can cook delicious foods with nothing but their metabolism. Lactobacillus acidophilus and Streptococcus thermophilus for example, turn milk into yoghurt!

7 Reduce, reuse, recycle! Old DNA sequencers can get a second life thanks to these new tricks!
Most technological devices quickly become outdated and DNA sequencers aren’t an exception. These pieces of equipment are very expensive and valuable and thus these hackers have come up with an idea to give them a second chance!  Read more >

8 These companies are boosting skin microbes to fight skin diseases
Our skin is covered in microorganisms, the majority of which are harmless or even beneficial for our health. Now, with a little help of researchers, these microbes can be boosted and engineered to express beneficial proteins to fight skin diseases!  Read more >

9 Want to see #bacteria dancing? You will just need a magnet and a nintendo controller, they will do the rest thanks to their tiny inner compass!
Thanks to their inner magnetic crystals that aggregate in so-called magnetosomes, magnetotactic bacteria like the ones in this video are able to align themselves with magnetic fields. In nature, this features allows them to easily move along the Earth’s magnetic fields and find places with optimal oxygen concentrations. When we explore this property in the lab, we can see them dancing! To the video >

10 Probiotics for plants? This is how engineered microbes could become a sustainable alternative for artificial fertilizers 🌱 🌾🍃 A #Synbio project by @JoynBio @Ginkgoo @Bayer
Our current food demands are so high that they require the use of artificial fertilizers. To avoid the environmental and health related side effects of these products, researchers have come up with a more sustainable solution: exploiting the natural power or microbes to fertilize plants! Watch the video to find out more! To the video >