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10 / 12 / 2021

Hub Zwart: to avoid dual use, steer synthetic cell research towards sustainability

07 / 10 / 2021ethics and RRI

Research into synthetic cells offers chances for reconciliation between technology and nature, but only if scientists, politicians and companies are willing to make hard choices now, in order to steer the outcomes in a positive direction. Professor and philosopher Hub Zwart: “Take history’s teachings about nuclear energy and the ...

Susana Camarero on how to exploit fungi's power

04 / 08 / 2021enzyme engineeringvideo

Susana Camarero on how to exploit fungi’s power to make plant-based materials Dr. Susana Camarero and her group of Biotechnology for Lignocellulosic Biomass at the Center of Biological Research Margarita Salas (CSIC, Spain) study the enzymes that fungi use to degrade lignocellulose, the most abundant renewable biomass on earth. ...

A new spin on making minimal cells

30 / 06 / 2021cytoskeleton

The ability of a cell to separate its own matter from its surroundings is a basic requirement for life. A team of researchers at AMOLF and Delft University of Technology have managed to create a synthetic container, or lipid vesicle, that is able to hold a range of different ...

Christophe Danelon on constructing minimal cells that can evolve

16 / 06 / 2021evolutiongenome organisationvideo

Christophe Danelon on constructing minimal cells that can evolve How does cellular life emerge from genetic information? Christophe Danelon and his team at Delft University of Technology construct the basic modules of a cell starting from genes inside lipid vesicles. By studying how these synthetic vesicles evolve in the lab, ...

One chemist’s solution for re-using industrial polymers: the cell-like microgel

02 / 06 / 2021cell metabolismhigh-tech cell productsmicrofluidics

Polymer chemist Julian Thiele of the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden extracts the protein-making skills from living cells and places them inside polymer microgels. His ambition: to teach the cell’s enzymes to accept synthetic substrates that can make new compounds, for example from inert industrial chemicals. “We are ...

Researchers discover how a cell’s armour can be both flexible and strong

06 / 05 / 2021cytoskeletonmembranesseptin

Medieval knights either had thick, cumbersome armour, or they could wear less protective armour and be flexible in combat – they couldn’t have both. Cells, on the other hand, do have it all. Researchers from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Leeds University, Institut Fresnel in Marseille, and Institut ...

Charting the blueprints for future disease treatments through cell self-organisation

06 / 05 / 2021cytoskeletonmicrotubulesself-organization

Prize-winning ERC grantees Anna Akhmanova and Marileen Dogterom combined cutting-edge research in the fields of biophysics and biology to achieve a better understanding of how cells self-organise. Their findings could have far-reaching implications for our ability to manipulate cells and treat diseases such as cancer. In recent years, researchers have ...

Designing minimal cells with 3D bioprinting

10 / 02 / 20213D bioprintingbiophysics

PhD student Hiromune Eto, Prof. Dr. Petra Schwille and co-workers at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry managed to make cell structures change shape by 3D-printing proteins on the microscale. Hiromune Eto: “3D bioprinting gives us clues as to why cells or organelles are shaped the way they are.” The ...

Jean-Christophe Baret on making cells that produce new materials

10 / 12 / 2020cell metabolismcircular cell-productsmicrofluidicsvideo

Jean-Christophe Baret on making cells that produce new materials What if we could get cells to produce materials for us? Microfluidics is the technology of controlling soft and biological matter at a small scale. Prof. Dr. Jean-Christophe Baret and his team at the CRPP institute in Bordeaux create chips to ...