A Natural Archive the Practical Challenges of Storing Data in Dna
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OCTOBER 2017 | WWW.THE-SCIENTIST.COM A NATURAL ARCHIVE THE PRACTICAL CHALLENGES OF STORING DATA IN DNA THE EVOLUTION OF MORE-VIRULENT PATHOGENS THE MULTITASKING MACROPHAGE HOW TO DRUG INTRINSICALLY DISORDERED PROTEINS PLUS CRISPR PATENTS: A PRIMER SO MUCH SCIENCE SO LITTLE BENCH SPACE other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. other trademarks All Compact and lightweight with a modern interface, it fits any benchtop – and budget Building on our family of benchtop multimode all technologies. And its software interface is easy to plate readers, the VICTOR Nivo™ system packs all learn and use, and lets you control the instrument from popular detection modes into the industry’s smallest almost any device, anywhere – perfect for multiuser multimode reader footprint. The perfect system for environments. Combine with our assays and reagents to everyday biochemical and cell-based assays, it measures get you started right away. 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OCTOBER 2017 Contents THE SCIENTIST THE-SCIENTIST.COM VOLUME 31 NUMBER 10 SCOTT LEIGHTON SCOTT © Features ON THE COVER: ILLUSTRATION BY SHANNON MAY 32 40 48 DNA Hard Drives Protection at a Price The Multitasking Macrophage A few kilograms of DNA could Emerging infections in birds and From guiding branching neurons theoretically store all of humanity’s mammals suggest that increased host in the developing brain to maintaining data, but there are practical challenges resistance—such as that provided by a healthy heartbeat, there seems to be no ANDY DAVIS, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA; DAVIS, ANDY to overcome before nucleic acid storage vaccination—could lead to the evolution job that the immune cells can’t tackle. MAY; units become a reality. of more-virulent pathogens. BY CLAIRE ASHER BY CATHERINE OFFORD BY ANDREW F. READ AND PETER J. KERR SHANNON © 10.2017 | THE SCIENTIST 3 BioResearch What if... … I could utilize cells from the same donor over a long time period? … immune cells could be modified non-virally in large scale? … I beat my boss at tennis tonight, will he get mad at me? Solving Today’s Challenges in Immunotherapy Lonza can’t help you with your temperamental boss, but we can provide high quality primary cells, transfection technology and services to support your transition from research into therapy. – Large inventory of primary blood cells from individual donors 9 –NEW! Large-scale transfection of 10 primary immune and stem cells 4D-Nucleofector™ LV Unit –Clinical development and commercial manufacturing services for cell therapies for large-scale transfection Visit our website for immunotherapy-related technical resources. ©2017 Lonza. All trademarks belong to Lonza or its affiliates. The information contained herein is believed to be correct. No warranty is made, either expressed or implied. www.lonza.com/immuno OCTOBER 2017 Department Contents 13 FROM THE EDITOR 65 LAB TOOLS 16 Puzzle Me This Designer DNA Looking at words on many Computational tools for mapping out different levels synthetic nucleic acids BY MARY BETH ABERLIN BY RACHEL BERKOWITZ 16 NOTEBOOK 68 BIO BUSINESS Spinmeisters; Cage Sweet Cage; Navigating a Rocky Landscape Click Bait; The Bitter Taste The battle for control of the of Preterm Labor intellectual property surrounding CRISPR-Cas9 is as storied and 27 FREEZE FRAME nuanced as the technology itself. Selected Images of the Day BY AGGIE MIKA from the-scientist.com 72 READING FRAMES 29 MODUS OPERANDI Lost Minds Live-Cell Extractions Modern technology can offer Nanostraws that collect specimens a window into the cognition from cells without killing them allow of extinct species. for repeated sampling. BY GREGORY BERNS BY RUTH WILLIAMS 76 FOUNDATIONS 56 THE LITERATURE Bathtub Bloodbath, 1793 Transcription pausing of RNA BY SHAWNA WILLIAMS polymerase II; the life span and turnover of human microglia; IN EVERY ISSUE female insects counter male STEFAN FUERTBAUER STEFAN © antiaphrodisiacs 10 CONTRIBUTORS 14 SPEAKING OF SCIENCE 58 PROFILE 73 THE GUIDE 29 Damage Patroller 74 RECRUITMENT Stephen Elledge has built a career ANSWER GEORGE RETSECK; studying how eukaryotic cells © 61 maintain genomic integrity. PUZZLE ON PAGE 14 BY ANNA AZVOLINSKY LI FEL I ST SN IP EAAHAA 61 SCIENTIST TO WATCH ACKERMAN MU IR Harald Janovjak: Cellular Scion FEGRPTA BY AGGIE MIKA BEEKEEP I NG PIMSRLU 62 LAB TOOLS Drugging the Disorderome RANDOM FI BULA Strategies for targeting intrinsically EVUEWSY disordered proteins GIANTSQU ID BY AMBER DANCE NSHUNHC AC IDNI CKNAME COURTESY OF KRAIG BIOCRAFT LABORATORIES; COURTESY NVNLLL IMAGE TOES GENEPOOL 10.2017 | THE SCIENTIST 5 OCTOBER 2017 Online Contents THIS MONTH AT THE-SCIENTIST.COM: VIDEO VIDEO VIDEO Introducing Batman Meet the Damage Patroller Spider Silk Daniel Kish, who is blind, uses Profilee Steve Elledge received a 2017 Kraig Biocraft Laboratories has vocal clicks to navigate the world Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences genetically engineered a silkworm by echolocation. for his work on how DNA damage is to spin spider silk, which might be used controlled in eukaryotic cells. for futuristic products. ANDRII VODOLAZHSKYI/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM AS ALWAYS, FIND BREAKING NEWS EVERY DAY, AND LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS ON INDIVIDUAL STORIES ON OUR WEBSITE. © Coming in November HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL FIND IN NEXT MONTH’S ISSUE: • Documenting mosaicism in brain neurons SYNAPSE: ISTOCK.COM/BRUCEBLOCK; © • Moving drugs across the blood-brain barrier • Magnetic recording of nerve signals • Funding research with private dollars • Plus: Annual Salary Survey WIKIMEDIA COMMONS; SPIDER: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS; AND MUCH MORE KISH: 6 THE SCIENTIST | the-scientist.com Streamline analysis, expand possibilities E-Gel Power Snap Electrophoresis System DNA separation Simplify DNA electrophoresis with the only integrated gel running and imaging platform The new Invitrogen™ E-Gel™ Power Snap Electrophoresis System combines the convenience of rapid, real-time nucleic acid analysis with high-resolution image capture. The integrated design helps reduce workflow time and accelerate discovery. Find out more at thermofisher.com/powersnap For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures. © 2017 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of Thermo Fisher Scientific and its subsidiaries unless otherwise specified. COL21973 0817 415 Madison Avenue, Suite 1508, New York, NY 10017 E-mail: [email protected] EDITORIAL ADVERTISING, EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD MARKETING, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ADMINISTRATION Roger Beachy Mary Beth Aberlin Donald Danforth Plant Science [email protected] ASSOCIATE SALES Center DIRECTOR SENIOR EDITORS Key Accounts Steven A. Bent Jef Akst Ashley Haire (Munro) Foley and Lardner LLP [email protected] [email protected] Bob Grant Deborah Blum SENIOR ACCOUNT University of Wisconsin [email protected] EXECUTIVES Kerry Grens Northeast U.S, Eastern Annette Doherty [email protected] Canada, Europe, ROW, Pfizer Global Research Careers/Recruitment and Development ASSOCIATE EDITOR Melanie Dunlop Shawna Williams [email protected] Kevin Horgan [email protected] GE Healthcare Western U.S. and ASSISTANT EDITOR Western Canada Steve Jackson Catherine O ord Karen Evans University of Cambridge co [email protected] [email protected] Simon Levin CONTRIBUTING EDITOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Alla Katsnelson Princeton University Center Midwest and Southeast U.S. for BioComplexity COPY EDITOR Anita Bell Annie Gottlieb [email protected] Edison Liu Genome Institute of Singapore CORRESPONDENTS AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Anna Azvolinsky Peter Raven Ruth Williams Brian McGann Missouri Botanical Garden [email protected] INTERN Joseph Schlessinger Aggie Mika TS EVENTS Sales and Marketing Yale University School of Medicine DESIGN Manager AND PRODUCTION Nicole Dupuis [email protected] J. 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