Biomolecular Engineering
-
The next AI safety fight may actually be about DNA
“[Gene synthesis] companies have to agree to have their order screened not just against a list of sequences but by an AI that people agree is smart enough to recognize and thwart an adversary who’s trying to build a deadly pathogen,” David Haussler, the scientific director of the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute.
-
Why the Most Powerful Computer of 2026 Might Be Made of Living Cells, Not Microchips
The researchers, led by Baskin School of Engineering Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Ph.D. student Ash Robbins, ECE Professor Mircea Teodorescu, and Distinguished Professor of Biomolecular Engineering David Haussler, demonstrated their findings in a paper published in the journal Cell Reports.
-
Clumps of mouse brain cells can learn to play a virtual game
The organoids didn’t retain that knowledge for long, says cognitive neuroscientist Ash Robbins of the University of California, Santa Cruz. But ultimately, researchers hope that brain organoids can help them understand how healthy human brains learn, as well as how cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease impair this capacity.
-
Scientists Are Trying to Train Lab-Grown Brains. The Brains Have Started to Solve Problems.
In a new study published in the journal Cell Reports, a team of scientists from the University of California, Santa Cruz successfully trained a brain organoid, developed from mouse-derived stem cells, to solve an engineering benchmark known as the “cart-pole problem.”
-
It’s a colorful pangenome world
A pangenome can reveal the spectrum of genome variation within a species. The toolbox for working with pangenomes is filling up.
-
Lab-Grown Brains Growing More Powerful
Scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz are taking lab-grown mini-brains into their toddler era, after demonstrating that brain organoids can process information in real time.
-
As Brain Organoid Science Grows More Complex, So Do the Questions
“If we can figure out ways in which living neural networks compute so efficiently, we would have a big breakthrough in terms of trying to find and develop a better architecture for artificial computing,” said Tal Sharf, an assistant professor of biomolecular engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
-
Our Brains May Have Pre-Configured Instructions to Understand the World When We’re Born
Using lab-grown brain organoids, scientists from the University of California, Santa Cruz led by Assistant Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Tal Sharf found that neurons begin firing in recognizable, information-like patterns long before any sensory system is active. Additional coverage in StudyFinds and The Debrief.
-
How a Stomach Flu-Causing Virus Sneaks into Human Cells
The Scientist featured work led by Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Rebecca DuBois to study how human astroviruses bind to human cells at a molecular level, which could inform new preventive and therapeutic strategies.
-
AI Model Digs Up Rare Somatic Variants for Precision Oncology Pipelines
Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Benedict Paten spoke about new methods developed to find elusive DNA mutations that occur only in tumor cells.
-
US serial killer case opens door to using cutting-edge DNA data in courts
Prosecutors contracted the company Astrea Forensics, a forensic genetic genealogy company co-founded by Professor of Biomolecular Engineering Richard “Ed” Green, who developed the methods used in this case. The technology cleared a ‘Frye hearing’, proving that it has been accepted by the scientific community and opening the door for the use of this DNA evidence…