1. Bacteria can help fighting #phenylketonuria! They just need a little #synbio help! #pku
A pill with engineered E. coli could become the ultimate treatment for phenylketonuria patients. People with this genetic disorder are unable to break down the amino acid phenylalanine, that accumulates in their bloodstreams causing diverse neurological disorders. To combat this, researchers have engineered microbes with the genes necessary to collect and metabolize this amino acid turning them into a very promising living therapy. Read more >

2. Lectures were yesterday! Today you can learn #microbiology on twitter! Check out this course #EUROMicroMOOC 📱
From the beginning of October until mid November, Twitter becomes a worldwide open classroom. This initiative from the Spanish Society for Microbiology (SEM) gathers international experts to “lecture” with their tweets about their fields of expertise fostering scientific discussion among the thousands of virtual students out there in the Twitter community.  Read more >

  3. #SpiderSilk flights up high! #Synbio startup joins aerospace giant for this exciting project ✈️
For decades carbon fiber has been the king of materials in the field of aerospace engineering because of its strength and lightness. But a stronger, more sustainable and more flexible fiber may take over its place, spider silk. To explore the potential of this fibre the synbio company AMSilk, that produces this fiber using engineered microbes, has joined forces with Airbus in a partnership that was recently announced. Read more >

4. Wanna “grow” your own clothes? #Microbes and other organisms can help you!
The vast majority of clothing items sold nowadays contain plastic-based acrylic, nylon or polyester threads that pose a big environmental impact. Looking for more sustainable alternatives, scientists and designers are using microorganisms like yeasts or bacteria to produce eco-friendly and biodegradable fibres and pigments. Read more >

5. Discover all about magnetotactic #bacteria & let their magnetism attract you!
Why do they behave like tiny magnets? Where do they come from? What can they be used for? These and many other questions about magnetotactic bacteria occupy the minds of researchers worldwide that aim not only at understanding more about these fascinating microbes but also at exploring and harnessing their magnetic properties for medical and engineering applications.  Read more >  

6. Floppy disks, CDs, USBs and now DNA! This is why DNA could become the ultimate storage molecule 💾💿
DNA is probably the oldest and most compact “hard drive” that has ever existed. For eons, this molecule has contained the information needed to encode life storing up to 1000000000000000000000 bytes  (yes, 21 zeros!) of information in a single gram. Thanks to the advances in the field of DNA synthesis, DNA has emerged as a promissing storage molecule. Although the field of DNA storage is still in a newborn phase, industry and investors are working to transform DNA into a real alternative for long term data storage. Read more >

7. #Microbes are stronger than you think: meet this tiny “muscleman” 🏋️ #AwesomeMicrobes
Neither lions nor whales, microbes are the world strongest organisms. More precisely, Neisseria gonorrhoeae a bacterium that is able to pull a million times its body weight and that made it to our selection of #AwesomeMicrobes because of its outstanding strength!

 

8. Let the #IGEM games begin! International students are gathering in Boston this week for the world biggest genetic engineering competition! Great science, amazing ideas. Best of luck everyone! #Synbio 🌍🔬
With over 5000 participants and 340 teams, the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition keeps growing and expanding the field of synthetic biology among international students worldwide. Like every year, the teams traveled to the USA to present their projects at the competitions final event, the Giant Jamboree, turning Boston into the world biggest Synbio hub for a few days. Read more >

9.“Good vs. Bad Bacteria” This is how probiotics can help us fighting against pathogens 💊 Read more >
Fighting microbes with microbes. A recent study has shown how probiotic Bacillus commonly found in dietary supplements help fighting the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus which causes serious antibiotic-resistant infections worldwide.

10.The Bacpires wish you a happy Halloween! Enzymes from these #AwesomeMicrobes could revolutionize the way we obtain our blood supplies worldwide 💉🦇
To celebrate halloween we prepared a very special & bloody edition of our #AwesomeMicrobes featuring E. coli and its enzymes that are able to turn type A and B blood into universal type O!