16 hours ago by Amanda Morris Cartoon highlighting a variety of representative methods for E. coli crude extract preparation. Deep in the heart of synthetic biology are the proteins that make it tick. Protein engineering is the crucial pulse of the booming, relatively new scientific discipline. Scientists grow, harvest, and reprogram proteins to become new drug therapeutics, environmentally friendly fuels, and vaccines. Producing proteins quickly and in large quantities has been and remains a major challenge in the field. "There's an increasing demand for cost-effective, scalable, highly yielding systems to make proteins," said Northwestern University synthetic biologist Michael Jewett. "We want to address this need, which could help lead to new targeted therapies that attack disease or enzymes that make sustainable chemicals." An assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering, Jewett and his team have pioneered a new protein production method that is faster and cheaper than ever before, making synthetic biology research more accessible for laboratories everywhereeven in high schools. Supported by DARPA and the Army Research Office, the research is published in the March 2015 issue of Scientific Reports. Yong Chan Kwon, a postdoctoral associate in Jewett's lab, coauthored the paper. Jewett's … Continue reading →

Photo by Alexandra Schmeling. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Thomas Near will be the next master of Saybrook College, University President Peter Salovey announced to a crowd of students Friday evening in the colleges dining hall. Near will succeed Paul Hudak, who will step down at the end of this academic year. Amid applause from the roughly 200 Saybrugians, Salovey and Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway lauded Near for his research on fish and already-proven commitment to the Saybrook community as a fellow of the college. Nears five-year term will start on July 1. I, like you, started at Yale as a Saybrugian, Near said. There will be time for us to get to know each other. There will be time for us to share our stories with one another. Near came to Yale in 2006 after teaching for three years at the University of Tennessee. He currently serves as the director of undergraduate studies in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, in addition to being the associate curator of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. Near, who teaches the course Ichthyology, focuses on fish in his research and has led a Yale Summer Session class on the topic. Lets hear it … Continue reading →