Hacker News with Generative AI: Biotechnology

Researchers use AI to design proteins that block snake venom toxins (arstechnica.com)
It's a good example of how computer developments can be used for practical problems.

AI, Biotechnology, Science, Medicine, Venom

12 points by isaacfrond 2 days ago | 0 comments

Colossal Biosciences raises $200M at $10.2B valu. to bring back woolly mammoths (techcrunch.com)
Colossal Biosciences, the company that’s famously on a mission to bring back the woolly mammoth and two other extinct species, has raised a $200 million Series C at a $10.2 billion valuation from TWG Global, the investment company of Guggenheim Partners co-founder Mark Walter and the billionaire Thomas Tull.

Biotechnology, Extinct Species, Funding, Startups

9 points by this_weekend 2 days ago | 2 comments

Zebrafish protein unlocks dormant genes for heart repair (hubrecht.eu)
Researchers from the Bakkers group at the Hubrecht Institute have successfully repaired damaged mouse hearts using a protein from zebrafish.

Biotechnology, Heart Health, Regeneration, Animal Research, Genetics

135 points by manmal 14 days ago | 61 comments

Storing 3D scans in a grain of wheat (wafaabilal.com)
Splicing ancient Mesopotamian civilization with post-cultural planetary futures through a poetic act of preservation, my latest work, In a Grain of Wheat, is an interdisciplinary artwork that archives the 3,000 year-old Winged Bull of Nineveh inside the DNA of Iraqi wheat seeds.

Art, Biotechnology, Archaeology, Ancient History

20 points by whoisstan 21 days ago | 4 comments

Technical Report on Mirror Bacteria: Feasibility and Risks (purl.stanford.edu)
This report describes the technical feasibility of creating mirror bacteria and the potentially serious and wide-ranging risks that they could pose to humans, other animals, plants, and the environment.

Biotechnology, Microbiology, Risk Assessment, Environmental Science

20 points by Hooke 33 days ago | 1 comments

How Cultivated Meat Carved Out Its Plate in History (synbiobeta.com)
With Thanksgiving right around the corner in the US, Americans are preparing to consume 46 million turkeys across the country (based on USDA estimates). That’s a lot of turkeys. But what if we could reimagine this holiday staple? Picture a future where the Thanksgiving turkey on your table didn’t grow up on a farm but instead grew inside a bioreactor. Science fiction or an anticipated reality?

Food, Biotechnology

9 points by maivjj 34 days ago | 6 comments

Anti–USAG-1 therapy for tooth regeneration through enhanced BMP signaling (nlm.nih.gov)
Cell-free molecular therapy targeting USAG-1 is effective in the treatment of a wide range of congenital tooth agenesis.

Biotechnology, Dentistry, Stem Cells, Regeneration, Genetics

4 points by thunderbong 35 days ago | 1 comments

Animals as Chemical Factories (worksinprogress.co)
Horses bled for antivenom, crabs drained for endotoxin tests, and silkworms boiled for silk. Science can now replace these practices with synthetic alternatives — but we need to find ways to scale them.

Animals, Science, Biotechnology, Animal Welfare, Sustainability

47 points by royalroad 35 days ago | 62 comments

How BioNTech's "revolutionary" lung cancer vaccine works (bigthink.com)
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide.

Medicine, Cancer, Vaccines, Biotechnology

11 points by Brajeshwar 36 days ago | 0 comments

Mirror bacteria research poses significant risks, scientists warn (the-scientist.com)
As synthetic biologists, we have spent the last few decades in awe of the breakthroughs in the field. In the last fifteen years, synthetic biologists have stored books, images, and even videos in DNA, developed the ability to modify and engineer genes with remarkable accuracy, and even created an organism with chromosome designed using a computer and synthesized in the lab.1-5

Biotechnology, Science, Synthetic Biology, Research, Ethics

305 points by conqueso 36 days ago | 240 comments

Noninvasive imaging method can penetrate deeper into living tissue (news.mit.edu)
Using high-powered lasers, this new method could help biologists study the body’s immune responses and develop new medicines.

Biotechnology, Medical Imaging, Science

199 points by rbanffy 36 days ago | 24 comments

A 'Second Tree of Life' Could Wreak Havoc, Scientists Warn (nytimes.com)
On Thursday, 38 prominent biologists issued a dire warning: Within a few decades, scientists will be able create a microbe that could cause an unstoppable pandemic, devastating crop losses or the collapse of entire ecosystems.

Science, Biology, Pandemics, Ecosystems, Biotechnology

60 points by michae2 36 days ago | 3 comments

Engineering tunable catch bonds with DNA (nature.com)
Unlike most adhesive bonds, biological catch bonds strengthen with increased tension.

Biotechnology, Science, DNA, Engineering, Materials Science

15 points by PaulHoule 37 days ago | 1 comments

Structure-Based Search of the Entire AlphaFold Protein Structure Database (muni.cz)

Biotechnology, Protein Folding, Databases, Artificial Intelligence

6 points by cernocky 38 days ago | 0 comments

Two Biotech CEOs Convicted in Securities Fraud Scheme (justice.gov)
A federal jury in Maryland convicted two men yesterday for their roles in a scheme to lie to investors in CytoDyn Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company based in Vancouver, Washington.

Biotechnology, Securities Fraud, Law, Business

13 points by sandwichsphinx 38 days ago | 0 comments

New funding could make whole-eye transplants a reality (news.northwestern.edu)
A multi-institutional team of researchers, including two Northwestern University engineers, has received up to $56 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to help make vision-restoring, whole-eye transplants a reality, the agency announced today.

Biotechnology, Medical Research, Eye Health, Transplantation

11 points by gnabgib 46 days ago | 0 comments

Advances in Biorefinery of Cattle Manure for Value-Added Products (mdpi.com)
A large amount of cattle manure is generated in the US every year, creating challenges for ecosystem sustainability while offering opportunities for value-added products through biorefinery.

Biotechnology, Sustainability, Agriculture, Waste Management

3 points by PaulHoule 50 days ago | 0 comments

Malaria vaccine delivered by a mosquito bite (nature.com)
Scientists have developed a new vaccination strategy for malaria — boosting immunity through bites from mosquitoes carrying a genetically engineered version of the parasite that causes malaria.

Malaria, Vaccines, Biotechnology, Medical Research

145 points by gmays 54 days ago | 226 comments

Designer cells 'reboot' immune system in 3 different autoimmune diseases (livescience.com)

Biotechnology, Medicine, Immunology, Autoimmune Diseases

5 points by geox 59 days ago | 0 comments

Two Nobel Prize winners want to cancel their own CRISPR patents in Europe (technologyreview.com)
In the decade-long fight to control CRISPR, the super-tool for modifying DNA, it’s been common for lawyers to try to overturn patents held by competitors by pointing out errors or inconsistencies.

CRISPR, Patents, Science, Biotechnology, Law

167 points by thisismytest 62 days ago | 120 comments

Learning to use a handy Third Thumb may be easier than you think (newatlas.com)
Having an extra thumb on one hand may massively boost your manual dexterity, but wouldn't it be hard to learn to use? Not according to a new study, which found that the majority of a wide variety of people got the hang of the thing in just one minute.

Biotechnology, Human Enhancement, Science, Technology, User Experience

17 points by bryanrasmussen 63 days ago | 2 comments

Human Skin Rejuvenation via mRNA (biorxiv.org)
Aging is characterized by a gradual decline in function, partly due to accumulated molecular damage.

Biotechnology, Aging, mRNA, Genetics

25 points by birriel 64 days ago | 1 comments

New CRISPR system for gene silencing doesn't rely on cutting DNA (phys.org)
Scientists from Vilnius University's (VU) Life Sciences Center (LSC) have discovered a unique way for cells to silence specific genes without cutting DNA.

Biotechnology, Genetics, CRISPR, Gene Editing, Science

4 points by cjnicholls 66 days ago | 0 comments

Genetically engineered cellular nanoparticles for biomedical applications (2023) (nlm.nih.gov)
In recent years, nanoparticles derived from cellular membranes have been increasingly explored for the prevention and treatment of human disease.

Biotechnology, Nanomaterials, Medicine, Cellular Engineering

13 points by lawrenceyan 67 days ago | 1 comments

Incorporation of photosynthetically active algal chloroplasts in mammalian cells (jst.go.jp)
Chloroplasts are photosynthetic organelles that evolved through the endosymbiosis between cyanobacteria-like symbionts and hosts.

Science, Biology, Genetics, Biotechnology

43 points by PaulHoule 67 days ago | 35 comments

Antibody Drug Conjugates: A frontier in cancer treatment (sagelyhealth.com)
An exciting frontier in cancer treatment over 100 years in the making.

Cancer, Medical Research, Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology, Treatment

107 points by peerless-app 78 days ago | 44 comments

'Smart' insulin prevents diabetic highs – and deadly lows (nature.com)
Scientists have designed a new form of insulin that can automatically switch itself on and off depending on glucose levels in the blood. In animals, this ‘smart’ insulin1 reduced high blood-sugar concentrations effectively while preventing levels from dropping too low.

Medical Technology, Diabetes, Biotechnology, Health

119 points by gmays 78 days ago | 27 comments

US startup charging couples to 'screen embryos for IQ' (theguardian.com)
A US startup company is offering to help wealthy couples screen their embryos for IQ using controversial technology that raises questions about the ethics of genetic enhancement.

Biotechnology, Ethics, Genetics, Health, Business

48 points by caust1c 92 days ago | 46 comments

Chip-based tractor beam for biological particles (news.mit.edu)
MIT researchers have developed a miniature, chip-based “tractor beam,” like the one that captures the Millennium Falcon in the film “Star Wars,” that could someday help biologists and clinicians study DNA, classify cells, and investigate the mechanisms of disease.

Biotechnology, Physics, Medical Research

9 points by gmays 93 days ago | 0 comments

Metabolic engineering of yeast for the production of psilocybin (sciencedirect.com)
Psilocybin is a tryptamine-derived psychoactive alkaloid found mainly in the fungal genus Psilocybe, among others, and is the active ingredient in so-called “magic mushrooms”.

Metabolic Engineering, Biotechnology, Psychedelic Drugs, Fungi, Chemistry

10 points by confused_boner 94 days ago | 3 comments