Repurposing the ribosome for synthetic biology
Post# of 22465
Posted On: 07/17/2016 5:06:22 PM
Repurposing the ribosome for synthetic biology
(Nanowerk News) Over the past several years, Northwestern Engineering’s Michael Jewett did the seemingly impossible. He overcame the critical barrier to making mutant ribosomes, the core catalyst in cells that are responsible for life.
“We are in a new era of biomaterial design,” Jewett said. “So far, the ribosome has been this untouchable biomolecular machine — one that we couldn’t engineer or modify. Now, armed with recent advances in our ability to construct new versions, new applications may only be limited by our imagination.”
The MURI grant joins researchers from Northwestern, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Texas at Austin , and Georgia Institute of Technology who will work together to develop new types of electrical materials for battery storage. By using biological catalysts, the team aims to produce materials for sustainable, rechargeable batteries that are currently impossible to make chemically.
“The ability to make synthetic polymers with perfect sequence control is a holy grail in polymer science,” said Charles Schroeder, associate professor and Ray and Beverly Mentzer Scholar in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Our approach holds strong promise to enable the synthesis of precision polymeric materials with levels of control that have not yet been achievable.”
http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=43917.php
(Nanowerk News) Over the past several years, Northwestern Engineering’s Michael Jewett did the seemingly impossible. He overcame the critical barrier to making mutant ribosomes, the core catalyst in cells that are responsible for life.
“We are in a new era of biomaterial design,” Jewett said. “So far, the ribosome has been this untouchable biomolecular machine — one that we couldn’t engineer or modify. Now, armed with recent advances in our ability to construct new versions, new applications may only be limited by our imagination.”
The MURI grant joins researchers from Northwestern, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Texas at Austin , and Georgia Institute of Technology who will work together to develop new types of electrical materials for battery storage. By using biological catalysts, the team aims to produce materials for sustainable, rechargeable batteries that are currently impossible to make chemically.
“The ability to make synthetic polymers with perfect sequence control is a holy grail in polymer science,” said Charles Schroeder, associate professor and Ray and Beverly Mentzer Scholar in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Our approach holds strong promise to enable the synthesis of precision polymeric materials with levels of control that have not yet been achievable.”
http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=43917.php
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