The Nucleic Acid Programmable Protein Array (NAPPA) was developed at the Harvard Institute of Proteomics and led to the spin-out of Auguron about
a year ago. The firm says this technology enables proteins from any gene in the genome to be generated on microchips from surface printed DNA.

According to the Harvard Institute of Proteomics, existing protein arrays involve the tedious and lengthy process of expressing proteins in living cells followed by purifying, stabilizing, and spotting the samples. This process is a bottleneck in the preparation of the arrays.

Moreover,functionally active proteins require careful manipulation, and the less that is needed the better.The NAPPA method simply spots plasmid DNA. All genes are then simultaneously transcribed or translated in a cell-free system and the resulting proteins are immobilized in situ, minimizing direct manipulation of the proteins and making this approach well-suited to high-throughput applications.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have for the first time used DNA to guide the creation of three-dimensional, ordered, crystalline structures of nanoparticles. This achievement appears to be one of the “holy grails” of nanoscience, because the ability to engineer such 3-D structures to spontaneously assemble desired structures is essential to producing functional nanomaterials.

The research will be published in the January 31, 2008, issue of the journal Nature. There is also an accompanying News and Views article

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a powerful new gene-networking model, which makes the identification of disease-causing genes much easier.

Edward Marcotte and his colleague, postdoctoral researcher Insuk Lee, used the gene network technique to identify new genes that regulate life span and are involved in tumor development in the nematode worm.

In collaboration with Andrew Fraser’s group at The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, the researchers manipulated the newly found genes and were able to extend the lives of the worms by 55 percent and reverse the onset of tumors.

Marcotte’s research was published January 27 online in Nature Genetics

In this first post I like to provide some idea on the content of biohacking blog.

Here I will report and comment on general medical and biological advances or breakthroughs on understanding the genetic code, stem cell biology, immune system, nervous system, aging and advances on some of the disease process such as cancer and infections.

In particular, my stories will focus on tissue and genetic bioengineering, application of nanotechnology to biology, interfacing of biology with computer systems and programming biological systems (stem cells, synthetic biology, biohacking, neuroprogramming). I believe breakthroughs in these fields will help us to decode the biological programs and provide tools to reprogram or engineer biological systems.

I hope this blog will create awareness and good discussions on the meaning and implications of amazing biological advances.