News and Media
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Pamela Silver elected to National Academy of Sciences
May 8, 2023
Systems and synthetic biology pioneer and Wyss Core Faculty member Pamela Silver appointed to distinguished Academy of government advisors. Read the full article.
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Four researchers with MIT ties earn 2023 Schmidt Science Fellowships
Four researchers with ties to MIT have been named Schmidt Science Fellows this year. Lillian Chin ’17, SM ’19; Neil Dalvie PD ’22, PhD ’22; Suong Nguyen, and Yirui Zhang SM ’19, PhD ’23 are among the 32 exceptional early-career scientists worldwide chosen to receive the prestigious fellowships. Read the Article Here
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Sam Lim on Protecting Plants with Proteins
Like the organisms he studies, Sam Lim has been able to thrive in a variety of environments. He was born in Indiana, moved to Seoul, Korea at age two, spent his undergraduate years in Massachusetts, and did his Ph.D. in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now, he’s hoping to use the proteins that enable tardigrades, or water bears, to survive in harsh ecosystems to protect plants from extreme conditions, like drought. Learn more about Sam and his work in this month’s Humans of the Wyss.
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Bacterial Biosensors Eavesdrop on the Gut
Genetically engineered bacteria could help diagnose or monitor gut diseases. Read more here.
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IUBMB Jubilee Award Lectures
Pam Silver will be presenting at the UUBMB-FAOBMB- ComBio Biomolecular Horizons 2024 Congress in Melbourne, Australia on September 22-26 2024
Read the article HERE
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Revisiting federal policies on modifying dangerous pathogens
March 1, 2022
The White House and the NIH recently asked the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) to review policies regarding research that could potentially lead to a pandemic.
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BIOS asks Pam Silver 10 questions about being an academic entrepreneur
March 17, 2022
Pam Silver is a world-renowned academic scientist with diverse research interests. She has managed to successfully translate many of her scientific achievements into entrepreneurship, product commercialization, and collaborations with companies whose goals align with hers. Take a look at this interview for insights into how Pam navigates the intersection of academia and industry.
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The power of tardigrades
March 25, 2022
A great article by Derek Lowe (In the Pipeline blog) recognizing our lab’s work on the protective functions of intracellular condensates. It specifically focuses on our recent 2022 paper from Veling, et al.: Natural and Designed Proteins Inspired by Extremotolerant Organisms Can Form Condensates and Attenuate Apoptosis in Human Cells
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American Society for Microbiology (ASM) – Microbes & Climate change
April 19, 2022
This report is based on the discussion of experts who came together via the American Academy of Microbiology. This meeting outlined recommendations from academic, policy, and market experts about how to address climate change by using the power of microbes.
Contact Information
Academy Staff, academy@asmusa.org
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Clues for Health and Longevity Lie in Tiny Tardigrades
April 20, 2022
Author(s): Ying Fang, Greg Orekhov, Zachary F. Lerner
Article on human health applications of tardigrade research.
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SOSV'S INDIEBIO AND GENOME PROJECT-WRITE PARTNER TO FUND AND ADVISE STARTUPS
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Tardigrades could teach us how to handle the rigors of space travel
July 13, 2022
No beast on Earth is tougher than the tiny tardigrade. It can survive being frozen at -272° Celsius, being exposed to the vacuum of outer space and even being blasted with 500 times the dose of X-rays that would kill a human. Read more here.
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ECOSCOPE symposium scopes out the future of microbial biotechnology
May 24, 2022
On May 11, the Ecosystem Services, Commercialization Platforms and Entrepreneurship (ECOSCOPE) training program celebrated nearly six years of work with a symposium featuring student findings.
Read more Here
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Kula Bio is backed by $50 million to advance its production of an environmentally friendly nitrogen fertilizer
January 27, 2022
Kula Bio was founded based on research done at Harvard University. The company’s main product – Kula-N – uses bacteria to remove nitrogen from the air and deposit it in soil, as opposed to damaging soil and nearby water supplies with traditional synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. Pamela Silver is a founder and member of the SAB.
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64X Bio raises $55M to advance gene therapy platform
January 19, 2022
Congratulations to 64X Bio! Read more about this transformative cell line engineering technology here. Pamela Silver and Jeffrey Way are co-founders.
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Pancreatitis project is highlighted by the Wyss Institute
January, 2022
The Silver Lab’s pancreatitis project was recently acknowledged in the Wyss Institute’s Therapeutic Catalyst, a business development initiative that supports the commercialization of therapeutics and technologies. Our project aims to develop engineered fusion protein drugs to treat pancreatitis.
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Check out our very own Kailyn Doiron & the Fujifilm Fellowship for translational research at HMS
January 4, 2022, Kailyn Doiron
Kailyn is a 3rd year student in the Systems, Synthetic, and Quantitative Biology PhD program. She is a 2021 recipient of this prestigious award. Her focus is on applying synthetic biology approaches to the development of protein therapeutics that can treat chronic and inflammatory pain.
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Lab Director Dr. Devin Burrill on building a multidisciplinary scientific community within the Silver Lab
December 1, 2021, Devin Burrill
This article is part of the Humans of the Wyss (HOW) series, which features Wyss Institute members to discuss their work, collaborations with the Wyss and other institutions and companies, and what influences them in how they navigate their scientific careers.
Dr. Burrill has a PhD from Harvard Medical School, a Post-doc from the Wyss/BU/MIT, and has industry and consulting experience. She is now back at Harvard to help lead the Silver Lab. Take a look!
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eureKARE successfully hosts inaugural SynBio Day and eureKAWARDS
November 10, 2021, eureKARE
eureKARE congratulates Prof. Roy Bar-Ziv of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel as the winner of the first-ever eureKAWARDS. Roy Bar-Ziv’s submission combines physics with biology and biochip artificial cells technology. It is a disruptive approach to diagnostics and therapeutics. Winners are eligible to receive free access to premium services provided by the eureKASYNBIO startup studio team and its network of validated partners for one year, along with support from eureKARE’s team, academic and industrial professionals in SynBio.
An awesome opportunity for anyone interested in SynBio!
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THE MAZE EXPERIMENT: The power of synthetic biology and bacteria…….
November 9, 2021
Distributed Computing with Engineered Bacteria and Its Application in Solving Chemically Generated 2 × 2 Maze Problems
Distributed Computing with Engineered Bacteria and Its Application in Solving Chemically Generated 2 × 2 Maze Problems
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Webinar on the Power of Synthetic Biology
October 20, 2021
A discussion between members of academia and industry and how the two came together to push SynBio forward during the early days and in the present. This relationship continues to prove that the field’s work is revolutionary and impactful world-wide through valuable collaborations.
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Students & VCs launch equity-free Nucleate program to support future biotech leaders
September 28, 2021
More info about Nucleate: https://nucleate.xyz/.
Nucleate is a program that aims to help academic researchers navigate the process of developing start-ups. The goal is to make sure that valuable academic ideas and potential biotech leaders are not lost or abandoned along the way simply because the process is difficult and largely not explained to students during academic training.
Pamela Silver is an advisor for Nucleate, as part of a distinguished team of scientific and business development experts.
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Nucleate launches nationwide to empower the next generation of biotech leaders
September 28, 2021
Nucleate is a non-profit organization committed to supporting the company development interests of PhD and MBA students focused on commercializing their work/ideas.
Nucleate is now accepting applications for its equity-free, 6 month Activator program. Participants are connected with potential co-founders, trained, and equipped with networks, funding, legal support, and access to lab equipment and reagents. The Activator program does not take any equity or other fees for participation.
Pamela Silver is an advisor for Nucleate, as part of a distinguished team of scientific and business development experts.
If interested, take a look here: https://nucleate.xyz/.
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eureKARE launches inaugural eureKAWARDS to support European synthetic biology innovation
July 28, 2021, eureKARE
An opportunity to pitch your most innovative, ambitious synbio ideas. Winning projects will be considered for startup investments and scientific support.
Learn more about the eureKAWARDS here.
(Pamela Silver is a member of eureKARE’s scientific advisory board)
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10 Tips to Transform Your Career and Science Culture
July 8, 2021, Christina Agapakis
Pioneering synthetic biologist Pamela Silver drops some wisdom.
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Awards & Recognitions: July 2021
July 1, 2021, Bobbie Collins
Two HMS researchers have received Burroughs Wellcome Fund 2021 Career Awards at the Scientific Interface (CASI), which provides early career support that allows investigators to develop innovative and independent research programs.
Rebecca Sherbo, visiting Harvard postdoctoral fellow in chemistry and chemical biology at HMS and the Wyss Institute, for the project “Sustainable Food
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2021 Career Awards At The Scientific Interface Recipients Announced
June 29, 2021, BWFUND
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2021 Career Awards at the Scientific Interface (CASI). This award is a postdoc-faculty bridging award for researchers conducting biological research through interdisciplinary approaches.
(Rebecca Sherbo named recipient)
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eureKARE Establishes Scientific Advisory Board of World Leading Experts from Microbiome and Synthetic Biology Research
June 22, 2021, eureKARE
(including Pamela Silver)
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Seize the game-changing potential of mRNA vaccines
June 17, 2021, Jamie Bay Nishi & Stacey Knobler
During the early months of the historic rollout of vaccines to fight COVID-19, the Sabin Vaccine Institute’s Influenzer Initiative asked experts and innovators specifically to reflect on the past, present, and game-changing future of mRNA vaccine protection against a range of viral threats, including influenza.
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The Wave: Supporting gender minorities in bio
May 21, 2021, Petri
A community to spotlight and support women and underrepresented genders founding companies in bio, supported by Petri.
(Pamela Silver speaks on panel)
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U.S. Department of Energy Invests $35 Million to Dramatically Reduce Carbon Footprint of Biofuel Production
May 14, 2021, ARPA-E
(Circe project at Wyss Institute and Harvard is an awardee)
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The Power Duo Looking at the Future of Sustainability
April 22, 2021, Wyss Business Insider
(Shannon Nangle, Marika Ziesack, and project Circe are featured)
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Inspiration and Sustainability
April 22, 2021, Wyss Business Insider
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Women helping women make history at the Wyss
March 25, 2021, Lindsay Brownell
The Wyss Institute commemorates Women’s History Month by celebrating the mentors and role models who are developing the next generation of world-changing scientists.
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Accelerating the Regenerative Revolution: The Nature Conservancy invests in agri-tech firms to speed progress against ambitious soil health goals
March 8, 2021, Ciaran Clayton & Tom Jennings
(Kula Bio is featured; Pamela Silver on SAB)
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SARS-CoV-2 proteins are potent suppressors of innate immunity
March 5, 2021, Liji Thomas, MD
Most pathogenic viruses, such as the causative agent of the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), affect normal human biology to co-opt cellular metabolism and replicate successfully. One key pathway is the suppression of innate host immunity.
(Features preprint by Olson et al. on bioRxiv)
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Pillar Founder Playlist
March 2, 2021
Professor Silver answers questions about startups from an academic perspective.
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In Focus: Climate Crisis
March 1, 2021
Climate change is a global threat that requires an urgent response. The Harvard community is taking a multi-faceted approach to addressing and reversing the effects of this crisis.
(Shannon Nangle’s and Marika Ziesack’s Circe project featured: Biodegradable products from greenhouse gases)
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Introducing the Wyss Lumineers Class of 2020
February 24, 2021, Lindsay Brownell
Inaugural class includes entrepreneurs taking on real-world challenges from aging to air pollution.
(Pamela Silver faculty advisor for 64x Bio)
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Seeded amid the many surprises of COVID times, some unexpected positives
February 18, 2021, Liz Mineo
(Pamela Silver featured)
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Joe Lieberman, Tom Ridge: How America can end threat of future pandemics by 2030
January 26, 2021, Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge
(Pamela Silver was an interviewed expert; see report)
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What’s Kool about Kula Bio? Transforming the economics and sustainability of soil, for starters
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64x Bio Emerges from Stealth to Drive an Evolution in Cell and Gene Therapy Manufacturing
November 16, 2020, Business Wire
“64x Bio announced today that they are emerging from stealth and are describing for the first time their proprietary VectorSelectTM platform and vision for the company. The company is a spinout of Harvard’s Wyss Institute and has developed breakthrough cellular screening technologies to dramatically increase the efficiency of viral vector production. These fundamental advances enable the delivery of lifesaving cell and gene therapies to patients by reducing the cost and complexity of manufacturing, which is a critical bottleneck in this multibillion dollar market.”
(co-founders Pamela Silver and Jeffrey Way mentioned)
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Heat-Protecting Gene in Corals & Human Cells Get an Upgrade…from Tardigrades
November 13, 2020, Niko McCarty
This Week in Synthetic Biology (Issue #15)
(featuring collaborative work co-authored by Mike Veling, Roger Chang, and Pamela Silver)
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The Dish: A celebration of bio + engineering
September 16, 2020, Petri
The Dish is Petri’s bi-annual Demo Day and summit. At the event, they showcase their founders and bring thought leaders together to celebrate innovation in bio + engineering. Fall 2020 recordings available.
(Pamela Silver spoke in the NexGen Food & Agriculture session)
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A New Approach To A Deadly Breast Cancer Offers Hope To The Black Women It Affects Most
September 17, 2020, John Cumbers
A novel therapeutic approach for triple-negative breast cancer.
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How Real Is Genetic Engineering in Sci-Fi?
August 26, 2020, Courtney Linder
(Jeffrey Way and Pamela Silver are quoted)
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Marika Ziesack on Circe
August 12, 2020
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Joining Forces
August 25, 2020
Harvard University, AbbVie form research alliance to address emergent viral diseases
(Pamela Silver is mentioned)
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$30M commitment supports development of therapies for viral infections
August 25, 2020, Harvard Office of Technology Development
AbbVie and Medical School collaboration to focus on coronaviruses, hemorrhagic fever
(Pamela Silver is mentioned)
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How Do We Know If a Virus Is Bioengineered?
August 5, 2020, Sarah Scoles
Detecting bioengineering is a fraught task for any organism.
(Elizabeth Libby is quoted)
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The Cell Conductor
June 23, 2020, Jill Neimark
Karmella Haynes is on a mission to revolutionize cancer treatment.
(alumna Karmella Haynes is featured and Pam Silver quoted)
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After the Madness—Pandemic Silver Linings in Bioscience
June 2020, David Ewing Duncan
(Pamela Silver is quoted)
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The Fun GCAT Program and Harvard University are exploring how SARS-CoV-2 evades and disrupts the human immune system
February 2020, IARPA.gov
Researchers at Harvard University led by Professor Pamela Silver recently developed an experimental pipeline for the evaluation of viral genes that disrupt the human immune response as part of IARPA’s Functional Genomic and Computational Assessment of Threats program.
(work of Timothy Chang, Erika Olson, Jeffrey Way, and Pamela Silver highlighted)
Image Credit: Davian Ho, Maya Peters Kostman, and Philippa Steinberg for the Innovative Genomics Institute
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Conversations with Aanika E9: Dr. Pamela Silver
June 16, 2020
Pamela is building synthetic cells that act as sensors, memory devices, bio-computers, producers of high value commodities and energy from the sun, and novel subsystems such as proteins with designed properties for therapeutic use. Among her most recent innovations are bacteria that can sense and respond to gut inflammation and the Bionic Leaf, which couples sunlight capture to bioproduction at an efficiency exceeding plants. Understanding how to program cells in a rational way will have value in stem cell design, drug therapy and the environment.
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The Origin of Things
June 4, 2020, Kevin Jiang
DNA-barcoded microbial spores can trace origin of objects, agricultural products
(featuring article co-authored by Michael Melfi, Lorena Lyon, and Pamela Silver)
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Wiring the Past & Future: A Transition for Engineering Biology
May 15, 2020
(keynote and panel discussion featuring Pamela Silver)
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The Next Decade in Science
January 13, 2020, Lindsay Brownell
Wyss Institute faculty predict the biggest scientific advances of the 2020s.
(Pamela Silver is quoted)
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Circe: Biodegradable plastic without the plants
April 22, 2020, Lindsay Brownell
(Shannon Nangle and Marika Ziesack are featured)
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New genetic tools promise to unlock secrets of microscopic marine life
April 6, 2020, Elizabeth Pennisi
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Accelerating the development of model systems for marine microbial ecology through collaboration
April 6, 2020
113 Moore Foundation-supported co-authors from 53 institutions across 14 countries contributed to the Nature Methods article. All protocols in the article are openly available on protocols.io.
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Therapeutic microbes to tackle disease
January 29, 2020, Claire Ainsworth
(Pam Silver mentioned)
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Biosecurity Innovation and Risk Reduction: A Global Framework for Accessible, Safe and Secure DNA Synthesis
January 2020
(Pam Silver is a member of the Working Group on Preventing Illicit Gene Synthesis)
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Learning to Speak Genome
January 16, 2020, Michael Eisenstein
To become fluent in life’s molecular language, take immersion programs in single-cell transcriptomics, CRISPR technology, and synthetic biology
(Pamela Silver quoted)
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Humans of the Wyss: Shannon Nangle on Microbes and Mars
December 19, 2019
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Engineering Life – Synthetic biology and the frontiers of technology
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4 Mad Scientists Using Superplants to Solve Climate Change
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Glowing with the flow
November 5, 2019, Adam Zewe
Students engineer blood vessel receptors to signal life-threatening conditions.
(iGEM team mentored by Tim Chang)
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What is a tardigrade?
October 14, 2019, Jeremy Deaton
(Roger Larken Chang is quoted)
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Science Behind-the-Scenes: Engineering Microbial Consortia with Dr. Marika Ziesack
October 11, 2019, Niko McCarty
(Article)
(interview with Marika Ziesack)
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Oscillating Genetic Circuit: A Reliable Clock for Your Microbiome
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Ending ‘dead zones’ – How a biofriendly fertilizer could offer a greener way to grow plants
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How Biology Inspires Future Technology
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Helping bacteria be better friends
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Just Solid or Liquid Enough
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Synthetic DNA from Extraterrestrial Intelligence to Future Biomolecules
July 3, 2019, The Biomedical Scientist
Following the creation of artificial E. coli, we look at the history of those pushing the boundaries in the field of synthetic biology (Finn Stirling quoted)
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Wyss Institute Faculty Curate “Selects” Exhibition at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
July 9, 2019, Lindsay Brownell
The 18th installation of the acclaimed series explores Biofuturism through art and design
(Pamela Silver mentioned)
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Take Two E. coli and Call Me in the Morning
June 28, 2019, Lindsay Brownell
Synthetic bacterial memory circuits enable microbial diagnostics for sensing biomolecules in the gut
(Pamela Silver, David Riglar, and Alexander Naydich are quoted)
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Engineering Biology: A Research Roadmap for the Next-Generation Bioeconomy
June 21, 2019, Engineering Biology Research Consortium
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Mutant genes could supercharge efforts to decipher protein structures
June 18, 2019, Robert F. Service
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Gut bacteria: The surprising impact of viruses
June 14, 2019, Tim Newman
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Earth Talk: What the heck is a “bionic leaf” and how does it help the planet?
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This Emerging Field Could Hold the Key to Treating Both Cancer and Aging
June 10, 2019, Timothy Chang and Lorena Lyon
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Just a phage? How bacteria’s predators can shape the gut microbiome
June 6, 2019, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
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Saving the Planet with Robots, Microbes, and Nanotechnology
June 5, 2019, Lindsay Brownell
(Pamela Silver is quoted)
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Conagen announces formation of Scientific Advisory Board
May 30, 2019, Conagen Inc.
(including Pamela Silver)
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Beyond Cold Storage
May 23, 2019, Adam Bluestein
(Roger Larken Chang is quoted)
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Scientists Created Bacteria With a Synthetic Genome. Is This Artificial Life?
May 15, 2019, Carl Zimmer
(Finn Stirling and James Kuo are quoted)
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Innovation Celebration: HMS community celebrates innovation and collaboration
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Physical and Biological Sciences Division honors three prominent alumni
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DARPA Thinks Tardigrades Could Help Scientists ‘Freeze’ Injured Soldiers in Time
April 1, 2019, Hannah Osborne
The end goal of Biostasis is to add a new class of tools to the human health toolbox that can protect biological systems from collapse after damage. Medical professionals already have lots of ways to help the body cope with insult and aid in the elimination of infectious organisms, but we do not currently have any approaches that work by slowing down the types of cascading molecular events that ultimately lead to the collapse of the system.
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2019 Soma Weiss Day
March 14, 2019, M.R.F. Buckley
“Fusion protein therapeutic for pancreatitis”
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Women Making History at the Wyss Institute
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A Gulp Of Genetically Modified Bacteria Might Someday Treat A Range Of Illnesses
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Searching Tardigrades for Lifesaving Secrets
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The Master of Survival
January 25, 2019, Ekaterina Pesheva
Could an extremophile hold the secret to redefining the treatment of devastating injuries? Proteins produced by the tardigrade are suspected of playing a role in the organism’s resilience, ultimately providing the basis for human therapies that halt tissue damage and prevent cell death.
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Besting Nature
December 12, 2018, Denis Bedoya
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Bacteria Harbor Geometric “Organelles”
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Why 2018 Was the Year of Living Medicines – How Engineered Organisms are Being Programmed to Fight Disease
December 17, 2018, Niko McCarty
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Congrats to Cameron and Janice – Silver Lab alumni
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Biology at the Brink – The Bionic Leaf and Advanced Biological Experimentation That Could Help Solve Monumental Environmental and Sustainability Problems
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Unexpected Findings Cause Scientists to Rethink Probiotics
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A telephone for your microbiome
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The top 10 startups from Y Combinator’s Demo Day S18 Day 2
August 23, 2018, Anna Escher, Connie Loizos, Lucas Matney, Jonathan Shieber, Anthony Ha
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Besting Nature
July 24, 2018, Scientific American Custom Media
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This Company Aims to Deliver DNA on Demand With Its Biological Fax Machine
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Report For Defense Department Ranks Top Threats From ‘Synthetic Biology’
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Celebrating iGEM + Ginkgo history
June 15, 2018, Barry Canton
We are so thrilled to be announcing a new partnership with iGEM (the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition). As sponsors, we’ll be supporting iGEM’s future growth and the growth of the community of synthetic biologists that they have built.
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Karmella Haynes, PH.D. – Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering @ Arizona State University
June 1, 2018
Karmella Haynes, Ph.D. is making waves in biological engineering by using a cutting-edge research approach called synthetic biology to break down barriers to understanding how human chromosomes work. She is currently a Principle Investigator (PI) who is leading her own research team at a tissue culture and DNA engineering laboratory that she launched at Arizona State University in 2011.
Learn more about Karmella at The Ella Project
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GP-write has big goals for synthetic genomes
May 15, 2018, Aaron Dy
We continue to improve our ability to read, write, and edit DNA on larger and larger scales. GP-write wants to gather and coordinate the global enthusiasm around large-scale genome engineering to bring about some major advancements in several areas. Overall, they have the goal to reduce of cost of building and testing large genomes by over 1,000-fold within ten years. This major reduction in cost would require large improvements in methods and technology, but large-scale projects like the synthesis of a human genome may be what’s needed to push the field to that point.
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Rewiring bacteria for large scale biofuel and bioplastic production
March 30, 2018, Benjamin Boettner
Organisms that died many millions of years ago are the source of today’s natural petroleum resources. As phytoplankton and zooplankton, they sank to the bottom of ancient oceans and formed sediments under ground, and were exposed to extreme heat and pressure. This process turned the molecules that built all of their outer and inner membranes, known as fatty acids, into the main hydrocarbon component of petroleum.
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Christina Agapakis Named One of 10 Inspiring Female Pioneers From PSFK’s PurpleList
March 8, 2018, PSFK
“Proud of former lab member Christina Agapakis who is doing such original work.”
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Annihilation: Horizontal Gene Transfer Runs Amok
March 6, 2018, Pamela Silver and Jeffrey Way
A mysterious meteor has struck at the base of a lighthouse creating a gauzy, slowly expanding field–the ‘Shimmer.’ Thus begins Alex Garland’s film ANNIHILATION. The U.S. Government has sent in teams of armed soldiers to investigate the Shimmer, and only one very damaged soldier has returned. While the previous failed teams have been all male, this time an all-female group of military badasses–most of whom also have advanced degrees in biology or physics–enters the Shimmer.
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Harvard Researchers Pioneer Photosynthetic Bionic Leaf
February 16, 2018, Amy L. Jia and Sanjana L. Narayanan
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Expanding the reach of the bionic leaf
January 31, 2018, Alvin Powell
With eye on population growth, postdoc teams with Silver, Nocera on project to aid agriculture in developing world. As the global population rises toward 10 billion, the planet is headed for a food shortage, with some estimates saying supply will have to double by 2050 to meet demand.
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Engineered bacteria to detect gut inflammation
January 29, 2018, Aaron DY
I wrote about engineered probiotics at the beginning of 2017, and the field continued throughout 2017 with more papers and startup news using engineered bacteria in the gut. For instance, one paper used engineered probiotics to attack Pseudomonas aeruginosa gut infection and another used engineered probiotics to treat phenylketonuria (PKU is genetic disorder that prevents breakdown of the amino phenylalanine). I was particularly interested in a pair of papers – one from Pam Silver’s lab at Harvard and one from Jeff Tabor’s lab at Rice University – described new sensors in bacteria so that they can detect inflammation in the mammalian gut. This type of work shows how probiotic-based diagnostics can provide measurements from directly inside your gut without invasive procedures.
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Karyopharm Announces Agreement for Biogen to Acquire KPT-350 for the Treatment of Neurological and Neurodegenerative Conditions
January 25, 2018, Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc.
We are excited to see the success of KPTI at bringing nuclear transport inhibitors to the clinic.
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Technology to watch in 2018
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Beyond the Lab: Pam Silver, Ph.D.
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2 World Changing Advances: Bionic Leaves And Harvesting Water From Thin Air
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There’s a Bacteria For That
November 21, 2017, Kira Peikoff, leaps.org
“There’s an app for that.” Get ready for a cutting-edge twist on this common phrase. In the life sciences, researchers in the field of synthetic biology are engineering microbes to execute specific tasks, like diagnosing gut inflammation, purifying dirty water, and cleaning up oil spills. Here are five academic and commercial projects underway now that will make you want to add the term “designer bacteria” to your vocab.”
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Scientists develop reliable kill switches — in case bioengineered microbes go rogue
November 16, 2017, Wyss Institute News
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Wyss researcher awarded prestigious Leopoldina Prize
September 7, 2017, Wyss Institute News
“Tobias Giessen, Ph.D., a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wyss Institute and Harvard Medical School working in Pam Silver’s lab, has been awarded the Leopoldina Prize for Young Scientists by the German National Academy of Sciences. The award will be presented during the ceremony of the annual assembly of the German National Academy of Sciences on Friday, September 22, 2017 in Halle (Saale), Germany.”
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Assumptions of how antibiotics work may be incorrect
September 6, 2017, Lindsay Brownell, Wyss Institute Communications
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Scientists build DNA from scratch to alter life’s blueprint
July 26, 2017, Mary Altaffer/AP, CBS News
“At Jef Boeke’s lab, you can whiff an odor that seems out of place, as if they were baking bread here.
But he and his colleagues are cooking up something else altogether: yeast that works with chunks of man-made DNA.”
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‘Bionic Leaf’ Could One Day Help Reduce CO2 In The Atmosphere
July 19, 2017, Fred Thys, WBUR News
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Artificial Leaf Turns Carbon Dioxide Into Liquid Fuel
June 26, 2017, Javier Garcia Martinez, Scientific American
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These are the top 10 emerging technologies of 2017
June 26, 2017, Oliver Cann, World Economic Forum
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Bacteria turns poop blue when you’re sick
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Remembrance of things past – bacterial memory of gut inflammation
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‘There was just no way I was going to do what everyone else did’
16 May 2017, Harvard Gazette
In 1960s Silicon Valley Pamela Silver came of age part math nerd, part rebel, absorbing the spirit of both time and place. Think space race. Think Grateful Dead.
She set out on her scientific career without a plan, propelled by an aptitude for math, an interest in science, and a love of the sometimes frenzied life of the laboratory. That love fueled groundbreaking work on how proteins make their way from the cytoplasm of a cell into the nucleus, a process called nuclear localization. Decades and many discoveries later, the same passion helped establish her as a leader in the fledgling field of synthetic biology.
Silver was recently named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is the Elliot T. and Onie H. Adams Professor of Biochemistry and Systems Biology.
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Now That We Can Read Genomes, Can We Write Them?
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Harvard faculty elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
April 12, 2017, Harvard Gazette
Those elected from Harvard include Alan M. Garber, provost of Harvard University and the Mallinckrodt Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School; John A. Quelch, Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration; Jonathan L. Zittrain, George Bemis Professor of International Law; David Charbonneau, professor of astronomy; Pamela A. Silver, Elliot T. and Onie H. Adams Professor of Biochemistry and Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School (HMS); Hopi E. Hoekstra, Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology and curator of mammals in the Museum of Comparative Zoology; Myles A. Brown, professor of medicine at HMS; Marc J. Melitz, David A. Wells Professor of Political Economy; Torben Iversen, Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy; Janet Gyatso, Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies; Naomi Oreskes, professor of the history of science; David Damrosch, Ernest Bernbaum Professor of Literature; Alina Payne, Alexander P. Misheff Professor of History of Art and Architecture. Gerald L. Chan, S.M. ’75, S.D. ’79, and his brother Ronnie C. Chan, sons of the late T.H. Chan and benefactors to the Harvard School of Public Health, were also named fellows.
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The bionic leaf seems poised to lead a fertilizer revolution
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7 projects win funding for climate change solutions
6 March 2017, Harvard Gazette
Photo: The roof of 38 Oxford St., home to the FAS Research Computing, is Harvard’s second largest solar photovoltaic installation.
Credit: Harvard Office for Sustainability
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Synthetic biology to help colonize Mars
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Compartmentalized life
6 March 2017, Wyss Institute
“Within their new hosts, these encapsulin systems could form capsids with very defined sizes on the nanoscale. These artificially expressed systems were able to protect the cells from high doses of different stressors that are also produced as byproducts of their normal metabolism. Some systems were also able to mineralize and store otherwise toxic iron, while still others may be involved in the so-called anammox process, which generates free dinitrogen from ammonium and nitrite with the rocket fuel hydrazine being an intermediate,” said Giessen, who is working with Silver at the Wyss Institute and HMS as a Postdoctoral Fellow.
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India Headed For A Green Energy Revolution: Harvard Scientist
2 Jan 2017, NDTV
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Featured Scientist: Pamela Silver
16 Dec 2016, Aldo Leopold Nature Center
Although a great deal of Silver’s work is with novel therapies for humans and livestock, she can’t ignore concerns about our planet’s need to adapt to bionic_leafincreasing amounts of carbon in the atmosphere. Using her knowledge in synthetic biology, Silver partnered with Daniel Nocera, a leading Harvard researcher in renewable energy and biological systems, to see if they could re-program cells to increase efficiency of photosynthetic rates and carbon fixation in plants. Out of this collaboration came what they call the ‘bionic leaf.’
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Illuminating the dark corners of nature’s nitrogen cycle by mimicking rocket-fuel-producing bacteria
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Shaping the future of science
5 Dec 2016, Menzies Foundation
Imagine reducing the need for invasive gut tests like colonoscopies or developing bacteria in your gut which could help manage your own inflammatory conditions.
These are some of the potential futures for patients with inflammatory bowel disease being explored in Dr David Riglar’s research at Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
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Will the artificial leaf sprout to combat climate change?
21 Nov 2016, Katherine Bourzac, c&en
To get around the problem of efficiently making more valuable chemicals at higher purity, some researchers are turning back to the original inspiration: biology. Harvard University synthetic biologist Pamela Silver doesn’t think it’s necessary for chemists to twist themselves into knots trying to mimic biology. The question for her is how to use what biology has already given us. “Plants are the best chemists there are,” she says. “Trying to supplant that with pure chemistry” may be making things unnecessarily difficult. “How is this going to work if we don’t use biology?” she asks.
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Training microbes to hunt out cancer and pollutants
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Outstanding Postdoc Service Award Recipient: David Riglar, PhD, Systems Biology
In conjunction with the 2016 National Postdoc Appreciation Week, the Office for Postdoctoral Fellows is partnering with the HMS/HSDM basic science departments to honor the achievements of some of our exceptional postdoctoral research fellows for their research accomplishments, while also considering all around scientific service.
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New “Bionic” Leaf Is Roughly 10 Times More Efficient Than Natural Photosynthesis
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Engineered microbes make silver nanoparticles
in c&en, 5 July 2016
To make these minuscule metal globs, Pamela A. Silver and Tobias W. Giessen of Harvard University turned to a 20-sided capsulelike structure in bacteria known as encapsulin, which holds iron-storing proteins that pack the capsule full of iron. The researchers removed the gene that encodes encapsulin’s iron-storing protein from Thermotoga maritima bacteria and replaced it with the sequence for a short protein that precipitates elemental silver instead. Then they transferred the entire genetic piece into an easy-to-grow laboratory strain of Escherichia coli. As a result, these structures in the engineered E. coli stuffed themselves with silver from their growth medium, forming symmetrical nanoparticles about 13 to 15 nm in diameter. The team broke open the cells to isolate and purify the nanoparticles.
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Nanoparticle Niche
in the Harvard News, 17 June 2016
Featured publication: Converting a natural protein compartment into a nanofactory for the size-constrained synthesis of antimicrobial silver nanoparticles. Giessen T, Silver PA. ACS Synthetic Biology. In press.
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Facets of Discovery: Talks@12
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It’s alive, but is it life: Synthetic biology and the future of creation
at the World Science Festival, 4 June 2016
For decades, biologists have read and edited DNA, the code of life. Revolutionary developments are giving scientists the power to write it. Instead of tinkering with existing life forms, synthetic biologists may be on the verge of writing the DNA of a living organism from scratch. In the next decade, according to some, we may even see the first synthetic human genome. Join a distinguished group of synthetic biologists, geneticists and bioengineers who are edging closer to breathing life into matter.
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Scientists say they’ve one-upped photosynthesis with a ‘bionic leaf’
in the Washington Post, by Sarah Kaplan, 2 June 2016
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Forget the sci-fi horror stories. Here’s what we could really learn from a synthetic genome
in STAT news, by Ike Swetlitz, 18 May 2016
Pamela Silver, a Harvard bioengineer who was invited to but did not attend last Tuesday’s meeting, said that taking the genome apart (with new gene-editing techniques likeCRISPR) and putting it together (through synthesis) are “complementary” methods: “No one is better than the other.”
Alina Chan, a postdoctoral researcher in Silver’s lab who gave a presentation about her work at last week’s meeting, is in the early stages of trying to put all these elements together to build and test human artificial chromosomes, the first step in making the real thing. Chan said that even if scientists were able to build a human genome from the ground up, it would be a far cry from a real person.
“Being able to write a book doesn’t mean the story actually becomes real,” Chan said.
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Targeting EPO to Treat Anemia
in Science Signaling, by Annalisa M VanHook, 17 May 2016
Featured publication: D. R. Burrill, A. Vernet, J. J. Collins, P. A. Silver, J. C. Way, Targeted erythropoietin selectively stimulates red blood cell expansion in vivo. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113, 5245–5250 (2016). [PubMed]
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Coiled proteins puncture membranes in response to pH cue
28 April 2016
Jane Coffin Childs Fellow Jessica Polka demonstrates the engineering potential of a unique protein polymer.
Featured publication: A tunable protein piston that breaks membranes to release encapsulated cargo. Polka J, Silver PA. ACS Synthetic Biology. PMID: 26814170.
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Fusion Protein Technique Shows Promise for Safer Cell-Targeted Therapeutics
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Brendan Colón on the Stuff You Should Know podcast
Starting at 2:12 from the end, released 3 March 2016
In response to The Future of Renewable Energy podcast
Renewable energy could be the key to ensuring the future prosperity and health of Planet Earth and humankind. In this very special episode, we sit down and discuss the possibilities with Bill Gates.
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Biologists steal nanospear technology from bacteria in The Atlantic
Ed Yong, 17 Feb 2016 , The Atlantic
Billions of years before hominids sharpened sticks into stabbing weapons, bacteria invented spears. Specifically, they invented transforming spears—structures that could almost instantly unfold from flat, coiled ribbons into long, pointed cylinders. They use these weapons to wage war on other microbes. And now, scientists—descendants of those early stick-sharpening hominids—are planning to tweak these bacterial javelins, and deploy them as tools for research, medicine, and more.
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Breaking cell barriers with retractable protein nanoneedles
11 Feb 2016, In the Wyss Press Release
Featured publication: A tunable protein piston that breaks membranes to release encapsulated cargo. Polka J, Silver PA. ACS Synthetic Biology. PMID: 26814170.
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Tapping the Marine Microbiome
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How microbes in your gut today hold clues to tomorrow’s medicines
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Fluorescent-glowing bacteria help scientists see inside the body’s ‘dark places’ in the betaBoston
4 Dec 2015, Beta Boston
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Shining light on microbial growth and death inside our guts
30 November 2015, in a Wyss Institute press release
Featured publication: Myhrvold C, Kotula JW, Hicks WM, Conway NJ, Silver PA. (2015). A distributed cell division counter reveals growth dynamics in the gut microbiota. Nature Communications, 6: 10039. PMID: 26615910
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The 2015 Innovation By Design Awards Winners: Fashion
WANDERERS
Creators: MIT Media Lab Mediated Matter Gorup (Steven Keating, Neri Oxman, Will Patrick and Sunanda Sharma) with Deskriptiv, the Pamela Silver Lab at Harvard Medical School, and Stratasys
Most wearables convey a bit of information and not much more. But Neri Oxman, founder of the Mediated Matter research group at MIT, imagines a future where wearables aren’t just passive lifestyle devices: They could gMUSHTARI from Mediated Matter Group on Vimeo.enerate the food, energy, light, and oxygen to keep us alive. In a project dubbed Wanderers, Oxman proposes wearable vessels that have photosynthetic bacteria culturing inside, creating the resources that an interplanetary traveler would need to survive in other climates.
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Synthetic Biology Needs Robust Safety Mechanisms Before Real World Application
and Is synthetic biology the key to health?
by Lucy Goodchild van Hilten, 16 September 2015, in Elsevier Connect
Publication featured: Ford TJ and Silver PA. (2015). Synthetic biology expands control of microorganisms. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 28:20-28. PMID: 26056951
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Transplanting circadian rhythms from one organism to another
by Kevin Hartnett, 1 July 2015, The Boston Globe
(Video)
Publication featured: Chen AH, Lubkowicz D, Yeong V, Chang RL and Silver PA. (2015). Transplantability of a circadian clock to a noncircadian organism. Science Advances. 1(5):e1500358.
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Circadian Clock Transplant
by Ruth Williams, 12 June 2015, The Scientist
Setting the circadian clock, a Wyss Institute press release, 12 June 2015
“Now, scientists led by the pioneering Harvard synthetic biologist Pamela Silver, Ph.D., have harnessed the circadian mechanism found in cyanobacteria to transplant the circadian wiring into a common species of bacteria that is naturally non–circadian. The novel work, which for the first time demonstrates the transplant of a circadian rhythm, is reported in a new study in Science Advances.”
Publication featured: Chen AH, Lubkowicz D, Yeong V, Chang RL and Silver PA. (2015). Transplantability of a circadian clock to a noncircadian organism. Science Advances. 1(5):e1500358.
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Mushtari
14 May 2015, Neri Oxman
In collaboration with our lab, alongside members of the Mediated Matter research group and Deskriptiv, Oxman unveiled the 3D printed photosynthetic wearable on the TED2015 stage in Vancouver.
“This is the first time that 3D printing technology has been used to produce a photosynthetic wearable piece with hollow internal channels designed to house microorganism.” Inspired by the human gastrointestinal tract, Mushtari is designed to host synthetic microorganisms – a co-culture of photosynthetic cyanobacteria and E. coli bacteria – that can fluoresce bright colors in darkness and produce sugar or biofuels when exposed to the sun. Such functions will in the near future augment the wearer by scanning our skins, repairing damaged tissue and sustaining our bodies, an experiment that has never been attempted before.” – Oxman
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What breakthroughs are possible by modifying an organism’s genome?
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Bacteria Turn Sunlight to Liquid Fuel in ‘Bionic Leaf’ in NBC News
“Bionic Leaf” Makes Fuel from Sunlight in the Scientific American
by David Biello, 9 February 2015
Bacteria Turn Sunlight to Liquid Fuel in ‘Bionic Leaf’ in NBC News
by Alan Boyle, 9 February 2015
<< Ralstonia eutropha makes fuel using the hydrogen produced via catalysts powered by electric current from a photovoltaic panel.
Publication featured: Torella JP, Gagliardi CJ, Chen JS, Bediako DK, Colón B, Way JC, Silver PA & Nocera DG. (2015). Efficient solar-to-fuels production from a hybrid microbial-water-splitting catalyst system. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 112(8):2337-42. PMID: 25675518
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Top 20 Influencers in Synthetic Biology by SynBio 2014
Radcliffe Asks, “What Is Life?” by Harvard Magazine, 3 June 2014
<< Discussing the science and ethics of engineering life are (from left) Eric S. Lander, Linda Griffith, David Liu, Pamela Silver, and I. Glenn Cohen.
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Bacterial reporters that get the scoop
Wyss Institute press release, 17 March 2014
<< Inspired by nature, the team engineered E. coli to sense, record and remember an environmental signal in the gut — and also demonstrated that they can survive and function within the complex environment of the mammalian gut. This work lays the foundation for the use of engineered probiotic bacteria that serve as non-destructive living diagnostics. In this schematic engineered probiotic E. coli have colonized the mammalian intestine and “remember” exposure to an environmental signal, which is indicated by the cells turning blue in color.
Publication featured: Kotula JW, Kerns SJ, Shaket LA, Siraj L, Collins JJ, Way JC and Silver PA. (2014). Programmable bacteria detect and record an environmental signal in the mammalian gut. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 111(13):4838-43. PMID: 24639514
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High-Octane Bacteria Could Ease Pain at the Pump
25 June 2013, Phys Org
Image courtesy of Wyss Institute.
Publication featured: Torella JP, Ford TJ, Kim SN, Chen AM, Way JC and Silver PA. (2013). Tailored fatty acid synthesis via dynamic control of fatty acid elongation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 110(28):11290-5. PMID: 23798438