Feng Zhang is mining biology’s natural diversity to find new enzymes and systems that may be harnessed for use as molecular biology tools and novel therapeutic treatments for disease. Zhang and his team aim to develop robust tools that help biologists manipulate cellular function to advance basic research and improve human health. The group also plans to engineer new ways of efficiently delivering these tools and therapies, with a focus on the central nervous system.
Humans and many other organisms depend on molecular systems that cut and reconnect their genetic material. A new study explores the workings of an ancient splicing mechanism still present in bacterial cells. Research labs are racing to develop innovative testing methods and overcome the bottlenecks to more widespread testing, which is crucial to controlling the spread of the disease. Researchers and a volunteer team from Pinterest developed How We Feel, an app that lets users report symptoms of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Rather than relying on optics, the microscopy system offers a chemically encoded way to map biomolecules’ relative positions.