biotechnology

A team of researchers has designed complete and functional genomes for bacteriophages — viruses that feed on bacteria — from scratch using generative artificial intelligence (AI), and has tested them against bacteria that had developed resistance to this type of virus. The study, published in the journal Science, represents a step forward towards generative systems capable of designing complete biological systems. The authors also state that it raises important questions regarding biosafety and biosecurity.

The team led by scientist Kate Adamala of the University of Minnesota has released the news—under an embargo—to several media outlets regarding the creation of a synthetic cell capable of feeding, growing, and replicating, which they have named Spudcell. Their work, which, according to Science News, was rejected by the journal Cell, is published on the team’s website, pending peer review.

In December 2025, the European Commission proposed new rules for the placing on the market of genetically modified microorganisms (GMMs). Tomorrow, European Union health ministers will vote to adopt the position of the Council of the European Union (EU) on this proposal. The Commission, the Council, and the European Parliament must agree on the final version of the legislative text.

The US company Colossal Biosciences claims to have successfully incubated a bird in an artificial egg system until it hatched. In a press release, the company states that this technology allows a bird embryo to develop fully outside the shell of a biological egg, and could be used to bring back extinct bird species such as the giant moa from New Zealand’s South Island.

The eyes are connected to the brain via the retina, which makes it a potential pathway for brain stimulation. A study published in Cell Reports Physical Science has used contact lenses equipped with a system for transcorneal electrical stimulation to treat depression in animal models of the disorder. Mice fitted with the device showed behavioural improvements, including increased sociability, as well as physiological changes, such as the restoration of altered neural connections. The results were comparable to those obtained with fluoxetine —known commercially as Prozac— administered for three weeks in one of the mouse groups.

A research team presents a wireless polygraph – colloquially known as a “lie detector” – that attaches to the chest to diagnose stress in adults and sleep disorders in children. According to the study, published in Science Advances, the device is able to identify episodes of waking, hypopnoea and apnoea in children.

Craig Venter, the American biologist and entrepreneur who founded Celera Genomics to launch his own Human Genome Project in 1999 outside the public consortium, died Wednesday in San Diego at the age of 79, according to a statement from the J. Craig Venter Institute, which he led. Among other achievements, Venter completed the first full sequencing of a living organism’s genetic material and announced that he had succeeded in creating synthetic life.

The European Union is close to passing legislation to facilitate the use of plants edited using CRISPR, a technology that makes it possible to modify the genome of living organisms with precision. The Council of Ministers of the EU is scheduled to deliberate on this legislation on 21 April, and in this article we explain what these techniques are, their potential benefits and risks, and how they will be regulated.

Repeated cloning cannot be sustained indefinitely in mammals, according to the findings of a twenty-year study on mice conducted in Japan. Serial cloning of mice led to an accumulation of lethal DNA mutations that affected birth rates from the 27th generation onwards, with the 58th generation being the last, according to the article published in Nature Communications, showing that sexual reproduction is necessary to prevent large-scale genetic mutations.

A team in the UK has developed the first laboratory-grown oesophagus in pigs that has been shown to safely replace an entire section of the organ and restore normal function, including swallowing, in a growing animal without the need for immunosuppression. The procedure, successfully carried out on eight pigs, involves removing cells from a donor organ, repopulating it with the recipient’s own cells and then implanting it. If this technology is adapted for use in humans, it could help in the treatment of newborns or children born with oesophageal atresia, a serious congenital malformation in which the oesophagus does not develop properly. The results are published in Nature Biotechnology.