Synthetic Biology

worms

Light flips genetic switch in bacteria inside transparent worms

Researchers from Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have shown that colored light can both activate and deactivate genes of gut bacteria in the intestines of worms. The research shows how optogenetic technology can be used to investigate the health impacts of gut bacteria.

The gene signal amplifier developed by bioscientists at Rice University excels at detecting the expression of target genes and can also be used to detect potentially any cellular gene. The amplifier is linked to a cell’s chromosome and directly reports on the activity of a gene by expressing fluorescent proteins (GFP). When the gene is not active, the amplifier expresses negative regulators that quench GFP by operating at different hierarchical levels of cellular information flow. EKRAB is a transcriptional

Strong signals show how proteins come and go

Rice University bioscientists develop a versatile gene signal amplifier that can not only do a better job of detecting the expression of chromosomal genes than current methods but can potentially be used to detect any cellular gene.

Illustration by Ilenne Del Valle/Rice University

Ordering in? Plants are way ahead of you

Dissolved carbon in soil can quench plants' ability to communicate with soil microbes, allowing plants to fine-tune their relationships with symbionts. Experiments show how synthetic biology tools developed at Rice University can help understand environmental controls on agricultural productivity.

Caroline Ajo-Franklin joined Rice University as a professor of biosciences with funding from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

CPRIT grant bolsters Rice biosciences

Rice University recruits synthetic biologist Caroline Ajo-Franklin with a $6 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas to bolster the university’s cutting-edge Systems, Synthetic and Physical Biology program.