Genetic Engineering

Nature's podcast explores genetically engineered probiotic bacteria that sense elevated glucose and release therapeutic factors, lowering blood sugar in animal studies. The episode also covers ecological research on pumas, geological erosion, and how a solar eclipse can help researchers probe the Sun's magnetic corona.

Jennifer Doudna discusses how CRISPR changed gene editing and what might come next. The conversation examines emerging applications, technical limitations and the ethical choices involved in altering genetic material, including how scientific progress can be paired with responsible use.

Support genome-engineering experiments using CRISPR-based methods, including prime editing and transcriptional activation or inhibition. Laboratory work includes cloning, viral transduction, cell culture and molecular analysis, with applications to stem-cell-derived brain-cell models and chromatin profiling. The advertised appointment is full-time for twelve months. Apply through the university’s Varbi recruitment system by 20 October 2026.

This business-led collaborative research and development competition will fund new engineering-biology products, processes and services and de-risk technologies with strong market potential. Projects may address health, agriculture and food, chemicals and materials, low-carbon fuels, waste and environment, or cross-cutting technology and service development. The central innovation must purposefully engineer biological systems and may involve biosensors, biomanufacturing, synthetic-biology platforms, gene editing, AI or computational biology. Projects must have total eligible costs of £750,000 to £2.5 million, last 12 to 36 months and begin no earlier than 1 April 2027. The open competition closes on 3 November 2026 at 11:00am UK time.

Support genome-engineering experiments using CRISPR-based methods, including prime editing and transcriptional activation or inhibition. Laboratory work includes cloning, viral transduction, cell culture and molecular analysis, with applications to stem-cell-derived brain-cell models and chromatin profiling. The advertised appointment is full-time for twelve months. Apply through the university’s Varbi recruitment system by 20 October 2026.

Jennifer Doudna discusses how CRISPR changed gene editing and what might come next. The conversation examines emerging applications, technical limitations and the ethical choices involved in altering genetic material, including how scientific progress can be paired with responsible use.

This business-led collaborative research and development competition will fund new engineering-biology products, processes and services and de-risk technologies with strong market potential. Projects may address health, agriculture and food, chemicals and materials, low-carbon fuels, waste and environment, or cross-cutting technology and service development. The central innovation must purposefully engineer biological systems and may involve biosensors, biomanufacturing, synthetic-biology platforms, gene editing, AI or computational biology. Projects must have total eligible costs of £750,000 to £2.5 million, last 12 to 36 months and begin no earlier than 1 April 2027. The open competition closes on 3 November 2026 at 11:00am UK time.

Jennifer Brophy presents two methods for programming when and where genes are expressed in plants and their associated microbes. One creates a chemical signal using the noncanonical amino acid O-methyl-L-tyrosine. Engineered Arabidopsis, tomato and poplar produce the signal, while engineered Bacillus subtilis and soil bacteria respond by activating gene expression. Restricting signal production to selected plant tissues allows local control of microbial activity. The second approach builds a genetic circuit that counts successive branching events in roots. It produces different expression patterns at different branch orders, helping researchers distinguish the contributions of roots that otherwise have similar molecular identities. Together, the approaches support experiments on plant development and the engineering of plant–microbe partnerships.