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Berkeley Lab Scientists Believe Biomanufacturing a Key to Long-term Manned Space Missions

Does synthetic biology hold the key to manned space exploration of the Moon and Mars? Berkeley Lab researchers have used synthetic biology to produce an inexpensive and reliable microbial-based alternative to the world’s most effective anti-malaria drug, and to develop clean, green and sustainable alternatives to gasoline, diesel and jet fuels. In the future, synthetic biology could also be used to make manned space missions more practical. (more…)

Berkeley Lab Researchers Create First of Its Kind Gene Map of Sulfate-reducing Bacterium: Work Holds Implications for Future Bioremediation Efforts

By Guest PostNovember 13, 2011Environment, Scienceadam arkin, aindrila mukhopadhyay, anaerobic bacterium, bacteria, berkeley lab, biofouling, bioremediation, d vulgaris, dap chip, department of energy, desulfovibrio vulgaris, dna affinity purified chip, doe, ecological niches, Environment, environmental signals, eric luning, five senses, generate enzymes, genetic secrets of a bacterium, genomic dna, how bacteria respond to environmental changes, lara rajeev, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, mapping of the genes, microbial systems, model organism, molecular signaling systems, morgan price, network of a microbe, new gene map, non hazardous forms, oil drilling, paramvir dehal, potential for removing toxic and radioactive waste, researchers, sight, smell, sound, sulfate reducing bacteria, sulfate reducing bacterium, taste, touch, toxic heavy metals and radioactive nuclides

Critical genetic secrets of a bacterium that holds potential for removing toxic and radioactive waste from the environment have been revealed in a study by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). The researchers have provided the first ever map of the genes that determine how these bacteria interact with their surrounding environment.

“Knowing how bacteria respond to environmental changes is crucial to our understanding of how their physiology tracks with consequences that are both good, such as bioremediation, and bad, such as biofouling,” says Aindrila Mukhopadhyay, a chemist with Berkeley Lab’s Physical Biosciences Division, who led this research. “We have reported the first systematic mapping of the genes in a sulfate-reducing bacterium – Desulfovibrio vulgaris – that regulate the mechanisms by which the bacteria perceive and respond to environmental signals.” (more…)

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Synthetic Biology for Space Exploration

Berkeley Lab Researchers Create First of Its Kind Gene Map of Sulfate-reducing Bacterium: Work Holds Implications for Future Bioremediation Efforts