Genetic engineering pioneer Kevin Esvelt’s work highlights biotechnology’s immense potential for good—but also for catastrophe.

With the help of directed evolution, scientists inch closer to developing viral vectors that can cross the human blood-brain barrier to deliver gene therapy.

Scientists have genetically modified isolated microbes for decades. Now, using CRISPR, they intend to target entire microbiomes.

p53 is possibly the most important protein for maintaining cellular function. Losing it is synonymous with cancer.

Metagenomic sequencing can help detect unknown pathogens, but its widespread use faces challenges.

A combinatorial approach enabled high-throughput screening of protein libraries for desired target binding.

Jumping genes in bdelloid rotifers are tamped down by DNA methylation performed by an enzyme pilfered from bacteria roughly 60 million years ago, a study finds.

Microscopic creatures called epibionts that live on sea turtles’ shells can help researchers understand their secretive lives.

DNA passed to and from all kinds of organisms, even across kingdoms, has helped shape the tree of life, to a large and undisputed degree in microbes and also unexpectedly in multicellular fungi, plants, and animals.

Recent advances in modeling the human placenta, the least understood organ, may inform placental disorders like preeclampsia.