1. Humans have millions of #microbes living in our guts, in our skin… and in our noses! 👃🦠 These “nosy” #bacteria may be protecting us from pathogens! 👇 Every day of our lives we host billions of microbes in our body. Some of them have no effect on us with us, [...]
Microorganisms that can munch on plastic waste. Bacteria that detect land mines. Microbes that can produce spider silk. Only twenty years ago, any of these applications would have been science fiction. But now, these and more wonders are within our reach, and we have synthetic biology to thank. The ability to engineer microorganisms is already [...]
1. They are invisible to our eyes… but #AwesomeMicrobes do a lot for us! 🦠 Here you have some good examples! 👇 #bacteria If you think about the word “bacteria”, the first thing that may come to your mind is a combination of terrible illnesses and rotten food. But bacteria and [...]
In these uncertain times marked by the COVID-19 pandemic we have strived to raise awareness about the brighter side of the microbial world. In our aim to bring microbiology closer to society, and particularly to the youngest, we have developed an educational outreach activity to introduce children to microorganisms in general and bacteria in particular. [...]
If you google “E. coli”, you’ll quickly see that this bacterium has a bad reputation. The first results are related to infections and food safety issues. However, if you ask scientists, you will find that they fall no short when praising its advantages. It is one of the model organisms most widely used in synthetic [...]
1. #Bacteria are everywhere… also in our tongues! 🦠👅 You can see them in these astonishing pictures! 👇 There are trillions of bacteria living in different parts of our bodies, and many of them have made their homes in our tongues. Different microbes live on this organ and, surprisingly, they have [...]
After working hard for many years, saying goodbye to an H2020 project can be hard. This is especially true if you have achieved good results when you are left wondering how to expand and exploit them further. Luckily, the project doesn’t have to end with the H2020 funding. In this post, we want to go over [...]
1. Growing rice in the ocean? 🌾🌊 This may be possible thanks to #synbio! 🧬👇 Currently, less than 1% of the total fresh water in the planet is available for human use and, of this, up to 70% is used for agriculture worldwide. Among all crops, rice is one of the [...]
Antibiotics are one of the scientific innovations that changed the world back in the 20th century. However, the overuse and the misuse of antibiotics during the years have fed the emergence of multi-resistant bacteria. As a consequence, “superbug” infections are one of the most urgent threats that humankind has to fight. Since the discovery of [...]
1. Bricks made of #bacteria that can repair themselves? 🧱🦠 #Synbio could be in charge of the buildings of the future! 🏘🧬 We have already heard about self-healing concrete but now scientists have gone a step further and they are building materials that can be grown on-site! A team from the University of Colorado [...]
