Month: January 2025

DNA, the blueprint and concrete of biological engineers

What concrete is to civil engineers, DNA is to biological engineers. At first glance, DNA might seem like any other material, a building block, like concrete. A material that, over time, humans learnt to refine, assemble, and optimize into products with specific functions. This analogy, brought to us by our guest blogger, MRes student Emile Durand, captures the essence of biological engineering’s approach. But to fully understand the potential of this topic, we must first learn what makes DNA different from other building blocks! 

DNA model, divided into blocks
DNA model as building blocks. Image credit: Study.com

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New year resolution: building bridges across disciplines

The time has come to make new year resolutions! You could aim to learn a new skill, technique or perhaps embrace a new discipline? How about starting a new collaboration with a researcher in a different field? Or expanding research beyond the lab into industry applications and policy recommendations?

If these ideas have crossed your mind, then your new resolution could be to embrace a multi, inter and/or transdisciplinary research approach so solve grand challenges.

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