A renaissance in RNA synthetic biology: new mechanisms, applications and tools for the future is out in Current Opinion in Chemical Biology! James, Kyle and Melissa did a fantastic job making our case for why we think we are in a renaissance in RNA synthetic biology right now. In the review, we go over the latest and greatest work in the new mechanisms being uncovered, including toe-hold translational switches, STARs and CRISPR interference. We also discuss how these powerful new mechanisms are enabling engineered RNAs to be used in a whole suite of applications from old to new including metabolic engineering and molecular diagnostics. We end with our forward looking perspective of where we think RNA synthetic biology is going, now that we can simultaneously measure RNA structure and function. Check it out!
Lucks Laboratory 