NEWSLETTER
mRNA and the Future of Vaccines
Cell Crunch (Issue 2021.02.12)
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The light microscope opened the first gate to microcosm. The electron microscope opened the second gate to microcosm. What will we find opening the third gate?
📰 Bioengineering in the News
DNA is my love language.
THE mRNA POTENTIAL: mRNA vaccines can protect people from the novel coronavirus. In the future, they could protect people from much more. MIT Technology Review. Link
RIBOSOME REVIVAL: Ribosomes are exquisitely chaotic; pistons pumping, gears thrumming, they read through mRNA and spit out proteins with blistering pace. Now, scientists are modifying these machines to create new types of polymers. Chemical & Engineering News. Link (See my technical proposal to engineer ribosomes to create a ‘mirrored’ organism.)
NEANDERTHAL BRAINS: For a recent study, researchers expressed a Neanderthal gene in brain organoids — hundreds of thousands of human cells, grown in the lab, that ‘mimic’ normal brains — to understand its ancient function. That single gene “triggered striking changes in the anatomy and function of brain organoids,” writes Carl Zimmer in The New York Times. Link (Also reported in Scientific American and Science).
