Drawing inspiration from nature, synthetic biology offers exciting opportunities to transform the future of medicine.

Ten years ago, scientists put DNA barcodes in AAV vectors, creating an approach that simplified, expedited, and streamlined AAV screening. 

Researchers found more than 800 sites in the genome where the twins bore the same chemical tags.

E. Li, C. Beard, R. Jaenisch, "Role for DNA methylation in genomic imprinting," Nature, 366:362-5, 1993. (Cited in more than 70 publications through August 1995) Comments by Rudolf Jaenisch, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Mass. "The fact that DNA methylation--a modification in which methyl groups are added to cytosine residues--was involved in gene expression had been suggested for a long time," says Rudolf Jaenisch, a professor of biology at the Whitehead Institute f

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

Since their introduction to the lab, pluripotent stem cells have gone from research tool to therapeutic, but the journey has been rocky.

Data from a highly resilient individual guided researchers to new potential therapeutic targets.

Studies The Scientist covered this year illustrate the expanding importance of genetic and genomic research in all aspects of life science, from ecology to medicine.

A key mutation turns healing cells into cancer promoters.