From engineering bacteria that degrade plastics to microbes that produce antibiotics, fuel and vegan milk, synthetic biology is revolutionizing the world as we know it. Soon, this discipline will enable applications that would have sounded like sci-fi a decade ago, in sectors as diverse as energy sourcing, health or agriculture. However, behind these applications, there [...]
From their first uses in the fermentation of alcoholic drinks almost 10000 years ago, to their current role in yielding a wide range of compounds such as drugs, soaps and food, microbes are changing the industry for good These tiny organisms, along with the efforts of synbio scientists and years of research, are quickly becoming [...]
Large numbers of species on the brink of extinction, rising global temperatures, air, water and soil pollution - these and other events are causing an unprecedented environmental crisis that the world is facing nowadays. At first sight, the forecast is unfavourable, and scientific studies point to human activities as the main cause for this shady [...]
When it comes to using microorganisms in the biotech industry, we can say there are two main kinds of scientists: those who work with Escherichia coli in their labs, and those who prefer Bacillus subtilis. These two bacteria species can be considered as counterparts: they belong to opposed groups in the Gram classification, a test [...]
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. [...]
Make sure you didn't miss any of the best BactToTheFuture stories from September! Here you have the top10! 1.Design #Bacteria and help astronauts colonise Mars with this #SynBio game from @WellesleyHCI Everyone knows that bacteria are very small organisms. What many don’t know is that they can produce pretty much anything we want them to! [...]
Here is our selection of the best August SynBio stories from BactToTheFuture!* A new way to stop ice sheets from melting found right beneath them: Antarctic #bacteria vs. greenhouse gasses! Climate change keeps increasing global temperatures that are melting the ice sheets. And it is precisely beneath the Antarctic ice that methane-eating bacteria have been [...]
