Haynes brings expertise in synthetic biology to ASU’s biomedical engineering program

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N. Pierce & J. Kullman, 02.21.2012, ASU News: Haynes, who joined Arizona State University last year as an assistant professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, one of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, was recently elected for a two-year term as a Councilor for the Institute of Biological Engineering (IBE).

Read more at ASU News.

This entry was posted in Leadership, Media Coverage.

Research – ACS Syn Bio – A sensitive switch for visualizing natural gene silencing in single cells

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ACSsynbio2011A sensitive switch for visualizing natural gene silencing in single cells
Haynes KA, Ceroni F, Flicker D, Younger A, Silver PA. (2012) ACS Synth. Biol. 1: 99–106. PMID: 22530199

We designed a synthetic gene switch that expressed cyan fluorescent protein in the presence of microRNAs, which are biomarkers for cell development and disease. The switch was designed to be sensitive to small, hard-to-detect microRNAs in live cells. Here, we demonstrated that the switch responded to natural as well as artificial proof-of-concept microRNA signals.

This entry was posted in Research Publications.

Rethinking DNA and RNA

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C. Agapakis, 09.27.2011, Scientific American: Karmella Haynes, now setting up her own lab at Arizona State University, set out to not just create new sequences of DNA, but to alter how DNA is read by the cell.

Read more at Scientific American: Oscillator.

This entry was posted in Media Coverage.

Research – JBC – Synthetic reversal of epigenetic silencing

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JBC2011Synthetic reversal of epigenetic silencing
Haynes KA, Silver PA. (2011) J Biol Chem. 286:27176-82. PMID: 21669865
Cover article

We developed synthetic gene regulators that interact with epigenetic marks instead of DNA sequences. This research breaks new ground for artificial regulation of genes to stop cancer cell growth. The development of the synthetic chromatin protein marks the beginning of our group’s work in synthetic epigenetics. Cover art was produced by Karmella Haynes.

This entry was posted in Research Publications.

Time to Teach: Is there room for teaching and research in a postdoc experience?

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A. Widener, 08.18.2011, HHMI Bulletin: As she faced the end of grad school, Karmella Haynes wasn’t sure what direction to take. “I couldn’t think of a research project that got me really excited,” says the graduate of Washington University in St. Louis.

Read more at the HHMI Bulletin.

This entry was posted in Media Coverage.

More art & science, hand-painted poster at Synthetic Biology 5.0

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Karmella’s hand-painted poster for the SB5.0 International Meeting for Synthetic Biology (Palo Alto, CA) was featured in Jonathan Eisen’s blog The Tree of Life.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized.

Calculating Bacteria: Real Computer bugs?

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I. Flatow, 05.23.2008, Science Friday: A group of scientists reports in the Journal of Biological Engineering that they have created specially modified E. coli bacteria capable of performing one specific type of calculation, a puzzle known as the “pancake flipping problem.” Karmella Haynes, one of the researchers, discusses the prospects for biologically based computing, and ways in which calculating bacteria might be useful.

Listen to the interview at the NPR website.

This entry was posted in Media Coverage.