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THE CREATION OF LIFE by J Craig Venter's group from four inert bottles of chemicals and a disabled shell of a cell is something that still has not fully permeated the scientific community. I shall present a series of key quotations from his book on the subject, and from the literature. It is perhaps one of the single most important steps forward in decades, and has given birth to Synthetic Biology. View in LinkedIn

CLAYTRONICS MEETS SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY is today just a dream, and at present there are no big, nor small initiatives to marry programmable matter with programmable life. As with all confluences of major groundbreaking disciplines, the outcomes will be unpredictable, but assuredly important. We will start with highlights of the very recent birth of synthetic biology. View in LinkedIn

SMART INSULIN. "We prepared a derivative of insulin with a molecular switch to provide glucose-mediated activation of the insulin molecule, toward the generation of more autonomous therapy with improved blood glucose control. This modified insulin, when administered in a diabetic mouse model, restores blood glucose levels following a glucose challenge (i.e., a simulated meal) faster than both standard insulin and a clinically used long-lasting insulin derivative." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/8/2401.abstract View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT IN NATURE this weekend focuses on the molecular biology of taste. Last weekend taste factoids were presented from the human experience of taste. The field of taste has accumulated more knowledge in the past 15 years than the past 100, on account of powerful molecular and genetic studies, and continues to surprise and excite us. View in LinkedIn

DNA NANOBOT FOR DRUG DELIVERY "suitable for targeting cancer cells in the body have been developed at prototype level. Composed of a hinged barrel, capable of containing a drug payload, triggered by specific cell surface receptors. This is the new generation of smart drugs that will eventually be used in medicine." https://lnkd.in/exK_uDt View in LinkedIn

DEATH OF VITALISM. "I believed that with the creation of synthetic life from chemicals, we had finally put to rest any remaining notions of vitalism once and for all." https://lnkd.in/eyZU783 View in LinkedIn

NANO CLOT BUSTERS. Doug Ingber's group have "developed micro aggregates of thrombolytic-drug-coated nanoparticles that break apart under the abnormally high fluid shear stress of narrowed blood vessels and then bind and dissolve the problematic clot." https://lnkd.in/eWkY2cJ View in LinkedIn

THE DIGITAL AGE OF BIOLOGY. "This is now the era of digital biology, in which the proteins and other interacting molecules in a cell can be viewed as its hardware and the information encoded in its DNA as its software." https://lnkd.in/eyZU783 View in LinkedIn

SMART DRUGS. George Church has developed "logic-gated DNA nanocapsules that deliver drugs inside cells only when a specific panel if disease bio markers is over-expressed on the cell surface." https://lnkd.in/eWkY2cJ View in LinkedIn

SPONTANEOUS GENERATION. Venter broke Virchov's Biogenic Law: "omniscient cellula e cellula, or "all living things arise from pre-existing cells." Page 15. https://lnkd.in/eyZU783 View in LinkedIn