Complexity Digest 2007.30 - 11

09-Aug-2007

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Bioengineers Devise 'Dimmer Swith' To Regulate Gene Expression In Mammal Cells, Science Daily Bookmark and Share

Excerpts: Three Boston University biomedical engineers have created a genetic dimmer switch that can be used to turn on, shut off, or partially activate a gene's function. Professor James Collins, Professor Charles Cantor and doctoral candidate Tara Deans invented the switch, which can be tuned to produce large or small quantities of protein, or none at all.

This switch helps advance the field of synthetic biology, which rests on the premise that complex biological systems can be built by arranging components or standard parts, as an electrician would to build an electric light switch.