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

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

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

FEATUREThe Ecology of Tumors   Courtesy of Nasa Ames Research CenterBy perturbing the microenvironment, wounds and infection may be key to tumor development.BY PARAIC A. KENNY, CELESTE M. NELSON, AND MINA J. BISSELLNo tumor is an island. Chemical and physical forces exerted by the diverse cellular populations that surround a tumor - its so-called microenvironment - shape development and progression. Manipulating these 'ecologi

Photo: Ori Fragman, Hebrew University Hordeum spontaneum, the plant studied for BARE-1 retroelements. With genome sequences arriving almost as regularly as the morning paper, the public's attention is focused on genes--new genes to protect crops against pests; rogue genes that make bacteria resistant to antibiotics; faulty genes that, if fixed, could cure diseases such as muscular dystrophy. What many people don't realize is that genes account for only part of an organism's DNA, and in many c

Current methods to detect infections of the novel coronavirus rely on identifying particular genetic sequences, but new assays are being developed to meet the growing demand for rapid answers.

Viruses abound in the world’s oceans, yet researchers are only beginning to understand how they affect life and chemistry from the water’s surface to the sea floor.

Research Briefs New Genes: The Ears Have 'Em; The Worker, The Soldier, The Candlestick Maker; For Genomes Without Borders, Biobanks Unite New genes: The ears have 'em While scouring a new cDNA library, researchers in the Netherlands discovered 80 novel expressed-sequence tags, including 25 preferentially expressed in human fetal cochlea.1 The researchers from the University Medical Center in Nijmegen (UMCN) found that 155 ESTs map to loci for nonsyndromic deafness, which is not associated

Courtesy of Genevieve Anderson If not for Nobel laureates Thomas Hunt Morgan, Eric R. Kandel, and Sydney Brenner, the notion of a general behavioral model might seem odd. Behaviors, after all, are determined by an animal's evolutionary history and ecological niche. They are often idiosyncratic, shared in detail only by closely related species. But, thanks to Morgan's research in the early 20th century, and Kandel's and Brenner's work over the past 35 years, the fly Drosophila melanogaster, t

To help create better conservation and management plans, researchers are measuring how marine organisms move between habitats and populations.