Tom Knight -- e/🦀
@TomKnightSynBio
Engineer of stuff that is alive or computes. Follow us all to that blue place.
Ginkgo has launched an E.coli-based Cell Free Protein Synthesis reagent! reagents.ginkgo.bio/products/cell-…
After a long sleep, environmental remediation with live biologics is back to the mainstream R&D agenda at this side of the pond. Wanna join an EU-wide on line conversation with bioremediation stakeholders this Nov 10? Express interest and register here 👉 forms.cloud.microsoft/e/b7xVz7dJcu
Synbio will take off when we realize that bioreactors are the problem. Releasing organisms to solve environmental problems is where the action is and will be. Leverage biology's ability to replicate.
It’s heartbreaking to hear @davidrliu - the winner of the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences and one of the top leading scientists & innovators of our lifetime, describes during his conversation with @WalterIsaacson the irreversible damages and the crisis caused from the…
1/This excellent FT article explains just how much the latest decision of the Trump administration and Elon Musk specifically to cut $4B yearly from all of NIH R&D grants to American universities will effect both science & medicine in the U.S and perhaps even worldwide. $XBI 🧵👇
We'll know that AI companies are shifting "AI will cure cancer" from vague hype to actual ambition when they start quietly spending a fortune on oligo and peptide synthesis.
Incredible cowardice from all these tech leaders to be dead silent about Trump's policies that are literally destroying the foundation of science & tech in the US. But of course being very concerned about some nobody socialist mayor candidate in NYC.
I’m not big on identities, but I am extremely proud to be American. This is true every day, but especially today—I firmly believe this is the greatest country ever on Earth. The American miracle stands alone in world history. I believe in techno-capitalism. We should encourage…
Everyone should read the Declaration of Independence today. Especially members of the three branches of government. archives.gov/founding-docs/…
We desperately need to take all the people in SF who talk about accelerating biology but have only ever done math or CS and have them do a six month rotation in a wet lab.
“Finally, maybe this is controversial but ultimately progress in science is bottlenecked by real-world experiments.” If this is controversial in SF, we’re cooked.
PCR, restriction cloning, Golden Gate. So many core DNA techniques started with a natural enzyme then figured out a use for it Has anyone tried to reverse engineer this? Is there a wishlist of plausible DNA enzyme activities that, if they existed, would be the next CRISPR?
The U.S. built the world’s greatest engine for biomedical research. But a 40% cut to NIH isn’t budget reform, it’s dismantling of the system that will not recover. And let's be clear: Industry won't replace it and philanthropy cannot sustain it.
Hot take: Anyone who thinks that virtual labs are *better* than real hands on experience with science hates humanity and are acting in bad faith. Full stop.
In the last 25 years, @gavi has helped over a billion kids live better, healthier lives. Pulling the organization’s funding would have devastating consequences: more sick kids who fall behind in school, more overcrowded hospital wards, and eventually more grieving parents. I’m…
Today, world leaders reaffirmed their commitment to protecting children from vaccine-preventable diseases, raising $9 billion for @gavi. This reflects strong global confidence in vaccines as one of the most effective investments in global health. As a founding partner, the…
It is crazy in how many different sub areas of biology Khorana made key contributions
I will never shut up about the USAID cuts, because it is one of the worst things a US President has ever done in our nation's history, no Democrat would've done it in a million years, and almost no one is fucking talking about it.
Predatory practices—journals, meetings etc—are spoiling the research landscape and erasing trust in science. But what can be done? Here Timmis et al inspect the phenomenon & propose a few measures to contain and even revert the damage …icro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/17…
Remember how lame it seemed back in 2000 when the President of South Africa didn't believe that HIV caused AIDS? Now we have someone like that in the US government, and he's Secretary of Health and Human Services.
When I say RFK Jr doesn't understand science and medicine I mean he literally doesn't believe that HIV is the cause of AIDS I'm not talking subtle interpretation of complex data here
It might be more illuminating to remove paywalls and invite more people to read and benefit from the rigorous science that has been produced
From today, all new submissions to Nature that are published will be accompanied by referees’ reports and author responses — to illuminate the process of producing rigorous science go.nature.com/44hKo29
Finally a left-handed DNA in a correct place.
Wonderful meeting at Pasteur Institute to discuss Mirror Biology. Great to catch up with many good friends!