What is Bioprinting? Have you ever heard of 3D printing? Now, imagine that instead of using plastic, we use biological material to print organs and tissues. To me, this sounds like something taken from a movie scene of a futuristic…
Extinguishing malaria with genetic engineering
Imagine that it was possible to genetically modify an organism so that the species to which it belongs disappeared? Or imagine it was possible to genetically modify a population of an endangered species in such a way as to preserve…
Quagg’OUT: in details
Recap of the problematic Quagga mussels are an invasive species of mollusc that originally comes from the black sea. Since their first appearance in Switzerland in 2014, this invasive species is now found in at least 6 Swiss lakes, including…
The Transcriptome is back from the grave!
The Transcriptome started as a collaboration between the iGEM teams from Lausanne, Switzerland, and Gothenburg, Sweden, back in 2020 as a platform to share science. Since then it has been a way for our two teams to write about their…
Osteogenesis Imperfecta: the Incurable Disorder
Many people may be familiar with the term “osteoporosis” – a systemic skeletal disorder that causes the deterioration of bone tissue and low bone mass, leading to bone fragility and a high fracture risk1. Upon hearing this name, memories of…
Presenting – The bat. A one-of-a-kind animal
To broaden our view of the biological world, we are exploring a unique animal – the bat. We know of 5000 species of mammals worldwide. Amongst them, there are more than 1200 species of bats, making bats the second biggest…
Using protein scaffolds to control metabolic flux
In this blog post I will talk a little bit about how protein scaffoldings can be useful for controlling metabolic flux. The metabolism of cells is essentially a large network of coupled chemical reactions that are (mostly) catalyzed by enzymes.…
Antifreeze Proteins
It is a widely know fact that water freezes at 0°C. There are of course some exceptions to this rule and by manipulating various physical, chemical, and even biological factors, the freezing point of water can change. This phenomenon takes…
100 years with antibiotics
Short about antibiotics Most of us have sometime had the need to take antibiotics to get rid of some bacterial infection. Antibiotics work by killing bacteria or preventing them from spreading. There are a lot of different types of antibiotics, and they work through different mechanisms. There…
An Agricultural Plague – Ice-Making Bacteria
To begin with, making a living from agriculture is not easy. On top of this, farmers often struggle with environmental obstacles that lead to losses of agricultural products. The loss of crops can be due to extreme weather, pathogens, herbivores,…