Search results for "synthetic biology"
showing 10 items of 73 documents
Printing Biology for Advanced Synthetic Biosystem
2019
Printing technologies represent a powerful tool for the direct micro- and nano- fabrication of biomolecular structures at the interface between life and materials sciences (Arrabito et al., 2012). Their continuous development over the last years has permitted the onset of man-made biosystems with customizable dimensions (from the micron-scale down to the nanometer scale), composition (organic molecules, DNA, proteins, phospholipids), and relevant functions (molecular interactions, drug screening, cellular biointerfaces, cell-like compartments). In this work, we show the possibility to leverage the fabrication of a wide class of solid-supported or liquid-liquid based synthetic compartments b…
Un proyecto de biología sintética para la motivación y aprendizaje de los estudiantes del primer curso del Grado en Biotecnología.
2020
[ES] En el presente trabajo presentamos un proyecto de biología sintética de nivel profesional adaptado a estudiantes de primer curso. Describimos las adaptaciones necesarias para hacerlo asequible para unas prácticas de laboratorio, tanto a nivel pedagógico como en cuanto a la viabilidad económica de los materiales utilizados. El proyecto pretende la motivación de los estudiantes del Grado en Biotecnología mediante la introducción temprana de la actividad profesional real en biomedicina, así como la adquisición de una serie de competencias del trabajo práctico en el laboratorio imprescindibles para el biotecnólogo en formación.
Gut microbiota disturbance during antibiotic therapy: a multi-omic approach
2014
It is known that the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) microbiota responds to different antibiotics in different ways and that while some antibiotics do not induce disturbances of the community, others drastically influence the richness, diversity, and prevalence of bacterial taxa. However, the metabolic consequences thereof, independent of the degree of the community shifts, are not clearly understood. In a recent article, we used an integrative OMICS approach to provide new insights into the metabolic shifts caused by antibiotic disturbance. The study presented here further suggests that specific bacterial lineage blooms occurring at defined stages of antibiotic intervention are mostly associa…
Words, images and gender
2019
Financial support from the European CSA on biological standardization BIOROBOOST (EU grant number 820699, http://standardsinsynbio.eu) is acknowledged. EMM is funded with a Formacion de Profesorado Universitario (FPU) grant from the Spanish Government (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades), with reference FPU17/04184. ALP is a recipient of a Doctorado Industrial fellowship from the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (Spain), with reference DI‐17‐09613.
Functional consequences of microbial shifts in the human gastrointestinal tract linked to antibiotic treatment and obesity
2013
The microbiomes in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of individuals receiving antibiotics and those in obese subjects undergo compositional shifts, the metabolic effects and linkages of which are not clearly understood. Herein, we set to gain insight into these effects, particularly with regard to carbohydrate metabolism, and to contribute to unravel the underlying mechanisms and consequences for health conditions. We measured the activity level of GIT carbohydrate-active enzymes toward 23 distinct sugars in adults patients (n = 2) receiving 14-d β-lactam therapy and in obese (n = 7) and lean (n = 5) adolescents. We observed that both 14 d antibiotic-treated and obese subjects showed higher …
Layered Double Hydroxides in Bioinspired Nanotechnology
2020
Layered Double Hydroxides (LDHs) are a relevant class of inorganic lamellar nanomaterials that have attracted significant interest in life science-related applications, due to their highly controllable synthesis and high biocompatibility. Under a general point of view, this class of materials might have played an important role for the origin of life on planet Earth, given their ability to adsorb and concentrate life-relevant molecules in sea environments. It has been speculated that the organic–mineral interactions could have permitted to organize the adsorbed molecules, leading to an increase in their local concentration and finally to the emergence of life. Inspired by nature, material s…
Small genomes and the difficulty to define minimal translation and metabolic machineries
2015
The notion of minimal life has sparked the interest of scientists in different fields, ranging from the origin-of-life research to biotechnology-oriented synthetic biology. Whether the interest is focused on the emergence of protocells out of prebiotic systems or the design of a cell chassis ready to incorporate new devices and functions, proposing minimal combinations of genes for life is not a trivial task. Using comparative genomics and biochemistry of endosymbionts (i.e., intracellular mutualistic symbionts) and intracellular parasites, a decade ago we proposed the core of a minimal gene set for a simple heterotrophic cell adapted to a chemically complex environment. In this work, we di…
Molecular communication relays for dynamic cross-regulation of self-sorting fibrillar self-assemblies
2021
Description
Engineering Bacteria to Form a Biofilm and Induce Clumping in Caenorhabditis elegans
2014
Bacteria are needed for a vast range of biotechnological processes, which they carry out either as pure cultures or in association with other bacteria and/or fungi. The potential of bacteria as biofactories is hampered, though, by their limited mobility in solid or semisolid media such as agricultural or domestic waste. This work represents an attempt toward overcoming this limitation by associating bacterial biotechnological properties with the transport ability of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. We report here biofilm formation on C. elegans by engineered Escherichia coli expressing a Xhenorhabdus nematophila adhesion operon and induction of nematode social feeding behavior (clumping…
La Biología Sintética; reto biotecnológico y bioético en las Ciencias de la Vida
2020
[ES] La Biología Sintética supone un reto científico y bioético de futuro, tanto a nivel medioambiental, como también en el mejoramiento humano y de otras especies. Por ello, el trabajo abordará dos aspectos principalmente. La síntesis en el laboratorio de células artificiales para la fabricación de un principio activo farmacéutico y por otra parte la reflexión bioética acerca de la potencialidad de dichas técnicas, advirtiendo la diferencia en los límites de la síntesis de vida y creación de vida. Actualmente, se calcula que hay 1.7 millones de especies conocidas de las 14 millones que se estima en la naturaleza. En los últimos 10 años se han generado más de 3000 patentes de organismos gen…