­Engineering synthetic gene circuits allows scientists to design cells to perform any number of tasks such as biosensing, therapeutic or commodity production or bioremediation to name a few. An important design principle when engineering sophisticated synthetic gene circuits is modularity as it breaks the system down into small modules, thereby...

Biological pattern formation requires complex gene regulation networks and accurate cell-cell coordination. The reaction-diffusion (RD) based clock and wavefront model has been proposed as a mechanism involved in biological pattern formation of repeated and segmented structures. While RD driven pattern formation has been demonstrated in many systems,...

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are a vital tool not only in research and disease modeling but also in developmental biology and regenerative medicine because of their ability to self-renew and differentiate. Current genome editing tactics in hPSCs require the incorporation of deleterious double-stranded DNA breaks followed by inefficient homology-directed...

Accurate detection and diagnosis of infectious diseases is paramount to appropriate treatment and better outcomes. Despite tremendous efforts to advance new diagnostic techniques, there are still critical gaps in the healthcare system in quickly diagnosing and responding to infectious diseases. Current diagnostic technologies identify pathogens by detecting...

Targeting DNA manipulation is integral to biotechnology and synthetic biology. Large chromosomal rearrangements and deletions have profound impacts on bacterial physiology, such as improved bioproduct levels, increased strain fitness, or changed tolerance to stress and environmental conditions. However, it requires time-consuming and laborious directed...

Genetic circuit engineering has played an important role in many forms of synthetic biology. Based on a large collection of well characterized biological components, complex gene circuits with designed functions can be wired using established biological principles. Currently circuit assembly has two main strategies: one is monocistronic construct, in...

In recent years, the true power of predictable and high-fidelity genome engineering for applications in gene therapy and biotechnology is closer than ever to being realized, and the CRISPR and CRISPR-associated (Cas) systems have played an instrumental role in this development. While CRISPR offers great programmability, it isn’t perfect and its...

While genomic research has identified many genetic targets that have the potential to modify the course of a disease, there has been little translation of that into genetic therapies. However, the discovery of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) segments and the subsequent development of CRISPR systems in 2011 revolutionized...