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

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

Scientists transferred light-harvesting proteins into yeast for the first time, shining a light on the past lives of eukaryotic cells.

This year’s crop of winning products features many with a clinical focus and others that represent significant advances in sequencing, single-cell analysis, and more.

More than linkurl:six years;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/13395/ after researchers sequenced the genome of the most virulent human malaria parasite, researchers now report the sequences of two more species, according to a pair of studies published in Nature this week. By comparing the genetics of Plasmodium falciparum to that of the newly sequenced species, P. knowlesi, and linkurl:P. vivax;, the two teams have begun to identify the different mechanisms by which each species max

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.

Thirty years out from the start of the Human Genome Project, researchers have finally finished sequencing the full 3 billion bases of a person’s genetic code. But even a complete reference genome has its shortcomings.

In a bid to address safety concerns about immune reactions during treatment with CRISPR-based therapeutics, a new technique speeds up how quickly the body destroys the DNA-cutting enzyme Cas9.

Advances in the functional characterization of newly discovered microproteins hint at diverse roles in health and disease.

The authors say their results demonstrate the global benefits of studying African genetics.