In this episode, we learn all about membranes and the Build-a-Cell project with Dr. Neha Kamat.

You can find out more about Dr. Kamat's research at her lab website, https://www.nehakamat.com/.

Here's a link to the Build-a-Cell website if you're interested in the cool stuff going on in this project: http://buildacell.io/engineering/.

Intro music by Chris Zabriskie, "Is That You or Are You You?", modified under an Attribution license, http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Chris_Zabriskie/Reappear/04_-_Is_That_You_or_Are_You_You.

New year, new GeneMods season! Join us as we discuss all the syn bio that happened in 2018, including CRISPR babies, Frances Arnold's Nobel Prize, massive leaps in protein engineering, and local Northwestern and Chicago news as well.

****Important note, the views expressed in this and all episodes belong to Isaac, Adam, me, and other guests on the show and do not reflect the Center for Synthetic Biology at Northwestern.

GUESS WHO'S BACK! After some long-neglected editing, we bring you some very belated news from July 2018. The news is old but hopefully still entertaining. Isaac was out this month, so we were instead joined by Kirsten Jung, a graduate student in the Lucks Lab at Northwestern.

Here are some links to the papers and news we discuss in the episode:

Gene-edited monkeys offer hope for heart disease patients: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/07/gene-edited-monkeys-offer-hope-heart-disease-patients

CRISPR plants now subject to tough GM laws in European Union

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05814-6

CRISPR–Cas9 genome editing induces a p53-mediated DNA damage response

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-018-0049-z

Engineering circular RNA for potent and stable translation in eukaryotic cells

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05096-6

CRISPR gene editing produces unwanted DNA deletions

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05736-3

Last Week Tonight gene editing segment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJm8PeWkiEU

Tune in as we talk to Professor David Baker from the University of Washington about the wonders of protein folding and computational protein design!

In this episode, we are joined again by Adam Silverman to catch up on news from November and December. Tune in for lots of CRISPR news and jokes, plant synthetic biology, DNA origami, DIY Bio, protein engineering, and more!

In this end-of-the-year episode, we return from our several-month-long hiatus and talk to Dr. Karmella Haynes about chromatin and epigenetics. Then, we catch up on some news from earlier in the fall, discuss some very endangered birds, and question whether DNA can actually predict what your face looks like. Happy holidays and a happy new year, listeners!

Join us as we talk to Dr. Drew Endy about intellectual property rights in synthetic biology and the new collaboration between the BioBricks Foundation and Twist Bioscience to make 10,000 genes free and available to the public!

If you are interested in getting involved with the project, their Reddit forum is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/bionet/

In this episode of the GeneMods podcast, we sit down with Special Agent Scott Mahloch, the WMD Coordinator for the Chicago division of the FBI, to talk about biosecurity. Then, in the news quiz, Isaac and Jordan tell lots of CRISPR jokes and talk about synthesizing pox viruses, designing proteins from scratch, and properly pronouncing the word "GIF".

In this episode, we talk to Dr. Julius Lucks at Northwestern University about RNA--a molecular "folding ninja" and life's "master molecule." Then we catch up on syn bio news with our news quiz, featuring some CRISPR patent updates, an interesting material for your new winter coat, and ten thousand very special genes.

How does sci-fi portray synthetic biology? What are our favorite books, movies, TV shows, and video games featuring strong bioengineering themes? How does society deal with its anxieties about biological engineering through science fiction? We answer these questions and more with our guests James Kath and Andrew Hunt in a roundtable discussion.

Biopunk works mentioned in this episode (not all are actually biopunk--we use the term here for lack of a better word):

Gattaca

Jurassic Park

The Expanse

Halo

Half-Life

BioShock

Mass Effect 3

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress

Change Agent by Daniel Suarez

The Wind-Up Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton

Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold