The Svalbard reindeer have gotten fatter, not thinner, the past 28 years of climate change.

Microbiome engineering is a promising area of synthetic biology, with applications ranging from human therapeutics to environmental bioremediation. However, designing systems to transfer genes across complex microbial communities is a major challenge. Scientists from Spain have now developed a plasmid pMATING, which can effectively enable conjugal DNA between multiple species ranging from bacteria to yeast. The system has the potential to be a tremendous asset for the spread of beneficial traits across various environmental microbiomes.

Rhizobacteria colonize plant roots and have a significant impact on their growth and sustenance. Engineering genetic circuits in these bacteria can be used to indirectly improve plant stress resilience. Now, researchers from Stanford University have explored key synthetic biology tools and methods for designing effective rhizobacterial genetic circuits through a ‘design-build-test-learn’ cycle. They have also emphasized how the resultant next-generation plants with improved root architecture could address food security and sustainability challenges.

University of Queensland scientists have developed a model that gives soccer players their best chance of kicking a penalty goal.

The unexpected finding could speed the drug-development process and help prevent potentially harmful drug interactions.

Using EMBL´s scientific services, researchers from the Institute of Advanced Biosciences (UGA/CNRS/Inserm) in Grenoble identified Altiratinib, which is already used to treat glioblastoma, as a potential drug to stop toxoplasmosis infection with reduced side effects. The studies are also opening up bi-therapy treatments options against malaria. The researchers have benefitted from EMBL Grenoble’s scientific services and expertise in structural biology for drug repurposing studies targeting apicomplexan parasites. EMBL Grenoble’s scientific services, particularly the automated beamline MASSIF-1 jointly operated with the ESRF, have been particularly useful to run these studies.