Collaboration between engineers at the University of Washington (UW) and NanoFacture, a UW spinout company, resulted in the development of a device that can extract human DNA in a simpler, more efficient and environmentally friendlier way than conventional methods. The new device will enable hospitals and research labs to extract DNA from human fluid samples… »

EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) researchers have developed a method to store and read information from deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules. The researchers devised a method to convert data into DNA code, and used it to encode 739 kilobytes of data into actual DNA. The information was retrieved with 100% accuracy by sequencing the sample and reconstructing… »

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have built the currently  most complex biochemical circuit created from scratch, made with DNA-based devices in a test tube. Engineering these circuits allows researchers to explore the principles of information processing in biological systems, and to design biochemical pathways with decision-making capabilities. “We’re trying to borrow the… »

Although the potential benefits of the technology could have have been over-stated, and it could introduce the dangers posed by synthetic organisms, it is a scientific landmark that deserved to become an article in our archive. Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first living cell to be controlled entirely by synthetic DNA…. »

Scientists have deciphered the three-dimensional structure of the human genome, paving the way for new insights into genomic function and expanding our understanding of how cellular DNA folds at scales that dwarf the double helix. They used a new technology called Hi-C in order to answer the thorny question of how each of our cells… »