Hacker News with Generative AI: Biotechnology

First Retinal Treatment to Restore Damaged Vision (businesskorea.co.kr)
A research team of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) has developed the world's first retinal disease treatment that can restore damaged vision.
Industry Voices Alarm as Peter Marks Departs FDA (genengnews.com)
The sudden but not altogether surprising departure of Peter Marks, MD, from the FDA has prompted a chorus of criticism and despair from industry leaders and trade organizations.
What happens to DNA data of millions as 23andMe files bankruptcy? (pbs.org)
The bankruptcy of 23andMe is raising concerns about the future of its DNA information.
Paralysed man stands again after receiving 'reprogrammed' stem cells (nature.com)
A paralysed man can stand on his own after receiving an injection of neural stem cells to treat his spinal cord injury.
Good drug news – More important things happening in biotechnology and medicine (worksinprogress.news)
We recently released Issue 18 of Works in Progress. Read about prehistoric psychopaths, fertility on demand and the king of fruits here. Today on Links in Progress Asimov Press’s Niko McCarty and our own Saloni Dattani return to review more important things happening in the world of biotechnology and medicine.
American Science Should Take a Lot More Risks (nytimes.com)
In the early 1990s, Katalin Karikó was obsessed with an idea most of her fellow scientists dismissed: Could messenger RNA, or mRNA, a genetic molecule that helps cells synthesize proteins, be harnessed to create new kinds of treatments?
Bio science lab in home for brain and body was launched in indiegogo (indiegogo.com)
Indiegogo is committed to accessibility.
Melbourne startup launches 'biological computer' made of human brain cells (abc.net.au)
First "Synthetic Biological Intelligence" runs on living human cells (newatlas.com)
The world's first "biological computer" that fuses human brain cells with silicon hardware to form fluid neural networks has been commercially launched, ushering in a new age of AI technology.
Designing Self-Destructing Bacteria to Make Effective Tuberculosis Vaccines (weill.cornell.edu)
Working toward more effective tuberculosis (TB) vaccines, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed two strains of mycobacteria with "kill switches" that can be triggered to stop the bacteria after they activate an immune response.
CRISPR transforms ordinary fat cells into cancer killing machines (thebrighterside.news)
Scientists use CRISPR to turn fat cells into cancer-fighting machines, cutting off tumors’ nutrient supply and halting growth.
The Birth of Wetware (2018) (proto.life)
Forget what you may have heard about neural networks in software. This startup is making a computer with living neurons.
The quest for a "communication device" that tells cells to regenerate the body (bigthink.com)
What if medicine could harness this innate healing ability with precision, using technology to direct the body to repair damaged tissues and organs, or even regenerate them entirely?
New reviews for Lumina Probiotic, the genetically engineered toothpaste (sfstandard.com)
In January of last year, a handful of tech elites flew to Honduras to try a single-use toothpaste that wasn’t available in the U.S. Shelling out up to $20,000 for a dose, they hoped the genetically engineered dental rinse might permanently ward off cavities.
Modern Synthesis is making compostable materials that last a lifetime (techcrunch.com)
Jen Keane’s claim to fame is that she grew a shoe using bacteria, coaxing the microbes to deposit their nanocellulose materials in the shape of a sneaker. But she’s kind of over that.
Design of Coq₁₀ crops based on evolutionary history (sciencedirect.com)
Engineering CoQ10 production in crops would benefit human health, but this is hindered by the fact that the specific residues of the enzyme Coq1 that control chain length are unknown.
How Unfair Is the Coin: Lessons from Building a Biotech Startup (ankitg.me)
I’m reviving my blog after some time away — it’s been an eventful 12 months. In February 2024, Reverie Labs, the startup I co-founded in 2017, was acquired by Ginkgo Bioworks. I’m now on leave from Ginkgo and I’ve joined Y Combinator as a Visiting Partner, giving me the chance to work with the next generation of companies. Especially in this new role, I’ve been thinking a bit about what worked, what didn’t work, and what lessons I can take forward.
I Left Florida to Try Lab-Grown Meat (reason.com)
A company based in San Francisco just became the first in the world to sell direct to consumers what its founders call "cultivated meat," meaning it didn't originate from an animal that lived on a farm or in a muddy feedlot but from a giant steel vat.
Printable molecule-selective nanoparticles enable wearable biosensor mass prod (phys.org)
The future of medicine may very well lie in the personalization of health care—knowing exactly what an individual needs and then delivering just the right mix of nutrients, metabolites, and medications, if necessary, to stabilize and improve their condition.
Graphene tattoos that are biosensors (ieee.org)
Imagine it’s the year 2040, and a 12-year-old kid with diabetes pops a piece of chewing gum into his mouth. A temporary tattoo on his forearm registers the uptick in sugar in his blood stream and sends that information to his phone.
Biomachining (wikipedia.org)
Biomachining is the machining process of using lithotropic bacteria to remove material from metal parts, contrasted with chemical machining methods such as chemical milling and physical machining methods such as milling.
Schrödinger: The Nvidia biotech partner Jensen Huang told to "think bigger" (hntrbrk.com)
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had a message to deliver.
Dutch pioneer files EU's second lab-grown meat application (politico.eu)
Mosa Meat has lodged the European Union’s second application for a cultivated or “lab-grown” meat, specifically a cell-based beef fat, as research and development continues to drive down the cost of the novel food, the Dutch food tech company announced Wednesday.
De novo designed proteins neutralize lethal snake venom toxins (nature.com)
Snakebite envenoming remains a devastating and neglected tropical disease, claiming over 100,000 lives annually and causing severe complications and long-lasting disabilities for many more1,2.
AI-designed proteins tackle century-old problem – making snake antivenoms (nature.com)
Proteins designed using artificial intelligence (AI) can block the lethal effects of toxins delivered in the venom of cobras, adders and other deadly snakes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.