These issues can be a deal-breaker when biologists want to make hundreds or thousands of changes to an organism's genome, says Chang Liu, a synthetic biologist at the University of California, Irvine. … “Now, I can make a series of changes in one segment and then another and combine them together. That's a big deal,” Liu says. The new tools will bolster industrial biotechnology by making it easier to vary the levels of proteins that microbes make, Liu and others say.

UCI said biomedical laser researcher and professor Michael Berns, who founded the university’s Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic, died on Aug. 13. He was 79. … Berns was known for his innovative work using “laser scissors and tweezers” to manipulate cells, university officials said. He was the first person to perform subcellular surgery on chromosomes and helped pioneer laser nanosurgery, according to SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

Makani Science is one step closer to commercial launch. The Irvine medtech company last month received 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for its wireless, wearable respiratory monitor in adults. … Makani was co-founded in 2019 by Michelle Khine, a biomedical engineering professor at the University of California, Irvine, and her post-doctoral student Michael Chu, who is now chief technology officer. Read More