Synthetic biology as a source of global health innovation.

Synthetic biology has the potential to contribute breakthrough innovations to the pursuit of new global health solutions. Wishing to harness the emerging tools of synthetic biology for the goals of global health, in 2011 the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation put out a call for grant applications to "Apply Synthetic Biology to Global Health Challenges" under its "Grand Challenges Explorations" program. A highly diverse pool of over 700 applications was received.

Promoting healthy growth: what are the priorities for research and action?

Healthy growth from conception through the first 2 y of life is the foundation for adequate organ formation and function, a strong immune system, physical health, and neurological and cognitive development. Recent studies identified several low-cost interventions to address undernutrition during this age period and noted the lower returns on investment of intervening after this critical period. Although these interventions should be implemented widely, it is recognized that existing nutrition solutions, even if universally applied, would only avert a minority fraction of the estimated death and disability due to undernutrition.

Development of a novel, accurate, automated, rapid, high-throughput technique suitable for population-based carrier screening for Fragile X syndrome.

Purpose: To develop a high-throughput, automated, accurate method suitable for population-based carrier detection of fragile X syndrome.

Methods: We developed a new method called capillary Southern analysis that allows automated high-throughput screening for expanded fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) alleles. Initially samples are analyzed by a multiplex polymerase chain reaction that contains an internal control to establish gender.

Rapid quantitative analysis using a single molecule counting approach.

Single molecule detection of target molecules specifically bound by paired fluorescently labeled probes has shown great potential for sensitive quantitation of biomolecules. To date, no reports have rigorously evaluated the analytical capabilities of a single molecule detection platform employing this dual-probe approach or the performance of its data analysis methodology. In this paper, we describe a rapid, automated, and sensitive multicolor single molecule detection apparatus and a novel extension of coincident event counting based on detection of fluorescent probes.

A single-molecule method for the quantitation of microRNA gene expression.

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are short endogenous noncoding RNA molecules that regulate fundamental cellular processes such as cell differentiation, cell proliferation and apoptosis through modulation of gene expression. Critical to understanding the role of miRNAs in this regulation is a method to rapidly and accurately quantitate miRNA gene expression. Existing methods lack sensitivity, specificity and typically require upfront enrichment, ligation and/or amplification steps.

Single molecule technologies.

Single molecule technologies provide an alternative set of approaches to conventional techniques and promise to deliver fundamentally new information about biological processes at the level of molecular movement, dynamics and function. As several of these mature and become more accessible for routine use in molecular biology laboratories, the potential impact on drug discovery research and development should be significant.: