...Science describing the development of “transcriptors,” transistor-like digital genetic switches that enable...comprised of well-characterized bacterial transcription and translation initiation elements. Open science with...dogma - replication of DNA, transcription of DNA to make RNA, translation of RNA to make proteins. That's...reliable gene expression via standard transcription and translation initiation." Nature Methods. 10, 354...cellular computing. These logic gates built from transcriptors are now available at Addgene through the Biobrick...genetically encoded sensors. Those sensors could transduce otherwise invisible molecules into regulation ...

...and they had been shown to to transduce the retina but only transiently. However new viral vectors capable...adenovirus (AdV) and lentivirus (LV) are known to transduce retinal cells, AAV quickly became the vector of...due to its considerable immunogenicity and its transient expression. LV results in long term expression... in dividing and non-dividing cells due to its (random) integration into the genome, and its large DNA... packaging capacity is well suited for larger transgenes. Unfortunately it has limited tropism in the ...and the one used in Luxturna™, can efficiently transduce various types of retinal neurons. Nowadays a toolbox...engineered AAV serotypes that further expands the range of AAV properties is available. While only natural...

...physiological processes. Re-engineering GFP to increase its range of color and application Almost as soon as its...backbones for constructing fluorescent fusions. Transcription Reporter: Placing GFP under the control of a...promoter in a given cell type. This type of transcription reporting was among the earliest uses of GFP...GFP. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET): This is used to study the interactions between two ...ion (such as Ca2+) concentrations and pH, using a range of strategies such as FRET, calmodulin, and others... gene of interest, or expressed from the same transcript as the gene of interest, but after an internal...expressing GFP from cells that are not. Developmental/transgenic uses: Because of its stability, GFP can be used...

...products are then transformed directly into chemically competent E. coli and transformants selected with ... for further purification before transformation. After transforming cells, you should perform colony ...consisting of digestion, purification, ligation, and transformation. While restriction cloning is still routinely...+ + Gel Purification + - Ligation + - Transformation + + The FastCloning process in brief In ...for this procedure to work properly. Directly transform chemically competent cells with the digested mixture...-cycle PCR leads to the most colonies after transformation. When a 1:1 vector:insert ratio is used in ... and 2 µL of digest product are used in the transformation, >70% of the colonies are correct. Good luck...

...proteins needed for the virus to replicate,  and the transfer plasmid which contains the viral genome. In today...and cap are expressed from a separate plasmid in trans, freeing up space in the viral genome so that a ...Replication initiates from the AAV genome ITRs on the transfer plasmid, which contain regions of dsDNA. To generate...capsid. Rep proteins are also involved in the transcriptional regulation of the AAV p40 promoter which drives...promoter. Alternative splicing and differing translational start sites generate the three VP proteins. ...Assembly-Activating Protein (AAP) and the recently discovered Membrane Associated Accessory Protein (MAAP) from an alternative...out this blog post to learn more about the AAV transfer plasmid! References: Naso MF, Tomkowicz B, ...

...conceptualize where the populations are, try drawing a quadrant over the plot that divides it into four, using...different populations by imagining (or drawing) a quadrant over the dot plot. Created with biorender.com....Biorender! While a helpful visualization tool, a quadrant will often be too clean for real-world data. Most...and debris. The side scatter roughly measures granularity, a proxy for nucleic complexity of the cell.  ...these populations, I suggest using the imaginary quadrant to help (Figure 5). Even though this real-world...real-world data is far messier than biorender plots, quadrants can still help me as a reader if I'm struggling...strategy from Barlow-Anacker et al., 2017, with quadrants to help visualize the different populations. Used...

...vaccines differed depending on the variants (Garcia-Beltran et al., 2021). Antibodies from individuals who ...and B.1.351 variants tested. Image from Garcia-Beltran et al., 2021 with permission.   The spike variant...represent lineages and variants that are actually transmitting out in the world” says Balazs. “By combining...quantified in terms of luminescence. Image from Garcia-Beltran et al., 2021 with permission.   Mutations ...with various pseudotyped virus. Image from Garcia-Beltran et al., 2021 with permission.   Difference ...https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03471-w Garcia-Beltran WF, Lam EC, Astudillo MG, Yang D, Miller TE, Feldman...Nitido AD, Murali MR, Alter G, Charles RC, Dighe A, Branda JA, Lennerz JK, Lingwood D, Schmidt AG, Iafrate...

...from one that represses transcription to one that activates transcription.However, this system lacks spatio-temporal...barbara_synbio) May 13, 2021 The original AraC transcriptional regulator Their system is based on the AraC...AraC protein that controls transcription from the PBAD promoter. “AraC is widely used in synthetic biology...It relies on the sugar arabinose to activate transcription by causing conformation changes in the AraC ...domains of the BLADE dimerize and activates transcription. The team created two constructs, among others...your gene of interest, all you have to do is co-transform pBLADEONLY. That way, a previously cloned gene...with AraC,” says Di Ventura. BLADE activates transcription with the flick of a light switch and shuts off...

...one of the most inclusive databases of post-translational modifications, identifies a staggering ~250,... enabled researchers to create an orthogonal translation system (OTS) for the incorporation of phosphoserine...system defined three components required for translation (Figure 1): A tRNA that recognizes a specific...elongation factor that allows proper extension and translation of the pSer-incorporated polypeptide. These ...Sep-OTS, contains the components required for the translation of pSer-incorporated proteins on a single plasmid...factor that accepts Sep-charged tRNAs during translation. Many ‘flavors’ of Sep-OTS plasmids are available...bacterial strain would result in read-through translation of many stop codons and detrimental effects on...

...remote collaborations Transferable Skills Guide: External collaborations Transferable Skills Guide: Teamwork...to explore this role, how to seek out such an arrangement, and how to operate once in that position. What... plan as well. Making logistical and funding arrangements Visiting scientist positions take commitment...structured visiting program, you will have to make arrangements on your own. This will include, but is not limited... limited to temporary housing, transportation, living expenses, and necessary reagents. Your primary lab...these expenses, or you may need to seek out travel grants available from third parties or your home institute...generate data that will contribute to a publication? A grant? A patent? It is never too early to discuss authorship...

... Wenning Qin. Single-stranded DNA repair templates Short single-stranded DNA templates have been shown...perform in vitro transcription, and use the IVT product as a template for reverse transcription to create your...order to insert two loxP sites. Since two double-strand breaks are made, it is common to see deletions ...traditionally been difficult to produce long single-stranded DNA, but Miura et al. (2015) developed the ivTRT...structure. Today, multiple companies offer long single-stranded DNA production services or kits, including the...microinjection and electroporation methods using in mouse transgenics. Designing an Easi-CRISPR knock-in allele To ...used guides targeting the same or complementary strands, as well as guides facing towards or away from ...

...the co-transduction by two viruses would lower editing efficiency, the split editors transduced at levels...capacity of 4-5 kb limits the delivery of larger transgenes, such as base editors which have a gene size ...base editor is split into two plasmids and co-transfected into cells for reconstitution. Image from Levy...-opsin GEVIs. With an increase in the neuron’s membrane potential, Ace absorbance increases and results...promoters, CRISPRi parts, selectable markers, transformation acceptor vectors, and sequences for genomic...plasmids using the Cyanogate Kit and subsequent transformation into cyanobacteria. Image from Vasudevan et... evaluated CreLite for cell tracing using the transgenic zebrafish model, ubi:zebrabow. In this system...

... from Abhi Aggarwal.   Brandán Pedre Pérez: Redox biosensors Brandán Pedre Pérez is a postdoc at... enable multiplexed imaging of neurotransmitter, calcium, and membrane voltage,” says Tian. Figure...Congratulations to the five winners! Abhi Aggarwal Brandán Pedre Pérez Elizabeth Hubbard Haoyi Qiu He Tian...hippocampal cultured neurons, imaged 14 days post-transfection, excited at 505 nm (right). Scalebar represents...hydropersulfide-propagating enzymes 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (MPST) which catalyzes the desulfuration of...an enzyme-bound hydropersulfide that is then transferred to thiol-containing acceptors. These hydropersulfides...redox modification, the MPST hydrosulfide can be transferred to the roGFP2 cysteine thiols and change its ...

...are not always easy to track at the transcriptional or translational level. However, several genetic tools...slightly slower scale.  All living cells with a membrane possess an electrical state. This state, known...is maintained by ion channels and pumps in the membrane. An emerging interdisciplinary field of biology...features increased brightness and improved plasma membrane specificity. Stable Step Function Opsin - A stabilized...Use of genetically encoded, light-gated ion translocators to control tumorigenesis." Oncotarget 7.15 (...PMID: 29684787. Oviedo, Néstor J., et al. "Long-range neural and gap junction protein-mediated cues control...PMCID: PMC2823934. Pai, Vaibhav P., et al. "Transmembrane voltage potential controls embryonic eye patterning...

... integration of a novel gene randomly into their genome, some transgenic strains are difficult to breed...expression level of the transgene. In existing strains of mice, the transgene can be maintained on a hemizygous...are many types of genetically engineered mice: transgenic mice, knockin and knockout mice, and conditional...that only one chromosome needs to contain the transgene in order to see an effect. Hemizygous mice can...breed. Some problems with transgenic mice that can impact reproduction include embryonic lethality, a short...expression level, and site of integration of the transgene. These problems can be mitigated in different ...different ways. Prior to engineering a transgenic strain, the promoter being used should be tested in cell lines...

...StayGold variants AAV.CAP-Mac for systemic gene transfer in primate brains Endothelial-specific AAV delivery...electroporation or poor cellular entry with other transfection methods. The Junwei Shi Lab addressed this problem...variants:   Figure 2: Inner mitochondrial membranes imaged with structured illumination microscopy...2023). StayGold variants for molecular fusion and membrane-targeting applications. Nature Methods, 1–9. https...breaching the blood-brain barrier and delivering a transgene, with neuron bias observed in young macaques and... viral vectors for functional intravenous gene transfer throughout the non-human primate brain. Nature...the Gradinaru lab, AAV1-X1, was developed by transferring the 7-mer peptide region from variable region...

...AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the Veterans Health Administration. “But, seriously, what even...Science and Technology Policy Fellow (STPF) at the Veterans Health Administration, I could never get one straight...variety of backgrounds with technical expertise that ranges from astronomy to bioethics to chemical engineering...happen at the national level within the executive branch or in Congress, or can also happen at the state... early career researchers who have decided to transition out of academia from graduate school or a postdoc... came to DC to do either a sabbatical year or transition away from academia as tenured professors. There...taken through your own personal lens.  For me, the Veterans Health Administration was the perfect position...

...separation of the two DNA strands.  Annealing- The temperature is then dropped to a range in which the forward...the primers can anneal to the single stranded DNA template strands. DNA polymerase is also stable at this...template DNA to amplify from and unique single stranded DNA primers that bind upstream (5’) and downstream... process as DNA polymerases require an existing strand of DNA to add nucleotides to.  Using these reagents...reaction:  Denaturation- To amplify DNA, the two strands of the template DNA first have to be separated....used to quantitate RNA levels using reverse transcription-qPCR (RT-qPCR). The first step of this process...requires RNA to be converted to cDNA using reverse transcription and the cDNA is subsequently quantified by qPCR...

...vivo starts with transducing cells with the CRISPR library in vitro before transplanting them into mice....time. This reduces the chance of integration at random locations that could cause deleterious effects....portions of the AAV genome can integrate at double-stranded break points caused by CRISPR-Cas9 editing. The...The good news is that this integration is not random, nor is it a global occurrence, as integration sites...target cells or tissues. AAV also shows improved transduction efficiency over lentivirus in many mouse tissues...019-12449-2 Pupo, A., Fernández, A., Low, S. H., François, A., Suárez-Amarán, L., & Samulski, R. J. (2022..., U., Jabaudon, D., & Platt, R. J. (2023). Transcriptional linkage analysis with in vivo AAV-Perturb-seq...

...only have to worry about cloning your transfer plasmid. The transfer plasmids have different packaging capacities...AAV and lentivirus requires three plasmids — a transfer plasmid containing your gene of interest plus ...in mammalian cells is relatively quick. After transfection, HEK-293T cells start producing virus within...systems, it is standard to do only one passage (transfection). This differs from typical insect cell preparations...an additional couple of days, as it requires transduction of more cells, while AAV can be titrated following... baculovirus requires only two plasmids — your transfer plasmid and the baculovirus construct, called ...between insect and mammalian systems. Baculovirus transfer plasmids have a much larger packaging capacity...