Genetic Engineering

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.

Irene Rombel discusses how artificial intelligence and machine learning can address bottlenecks, quality issues, and production costs in cell, gene, and RNA therapy manufacturing. The seminar focuses on real-world process-development applications that improve reproducibility, speed, and cost effectiveness.

The Dorrity group at EMBL Heidelberg seeks a Laboratory Officer to investigate gene regulation and cellular identity with single-cell genomics. Work includes mammalian cell culture and engineering, adapting low-input RNA-sequencing protocols, sequencing-library preparation, CRISPR experiments and laboratory training and management. The three-year, full-time position is based on campus. The advert gives a closing date of 30 September 2026 at 23:59 CET.

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.

The Dorrity group at EMBL Heidelberg seeks a Laboratory Officer to investigate gene regulation and cellular identity with single-cell genomics. Work includes mammalian cell culture and engineering, adapting low-input RNA-sequencing protocols, sequencing-library preparation, CRISPR experiments and laboratory training and management. The three-year, full-time position is based on campus. The advert gives a closing date of 30 September 2026 at 23:59 CET.

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.