Great opportunity to learn more about exciting tools for engineering cells and have a fun night out! Prof Mark Howarth on Spy-toolbox! meetup.com/cambridge-synt… Cambridge Biochemistry EngBio IRC

Self-replication is a defining hallmark of all living systems and how it emerged - early on in the origin of life - remains a fundamental question in biology and chemistry. Postdoc opportunity in my lab: nature.com/naturecareers/… Please RT!

Throwback to an impressive biochemical detail I spotted playing #thelastofus 2 - excited to see if similar levels of detail make it into The Last of Us

Very kind comments on our recent XNAzyme work by John Rossi City of Hope , thank you!

Piece in Scientific American describing my lab's work exploring antiviral applications of artificial nucleic acid enzymes - thank you Simon Makin Roy van der Meel scientificamerican.com/article/lab-ma…

If you think it’s unacceptable that rapists can freely roam university campuses with no safeguarding measures in place then say #NotOnMyCampus and sign the petition to introduce national guidance on tackling sexual misconduct in higher education 👇🏽 petitions.parliament.scot/petitions/PE20…

Very well deserved congratulations to my student Maria Jose Donde who has won one of this years’ PhD student awards from the Cambridge Society for the Application of Research (CSAR) for her work on XNAzymes! Well done Maria! csar.org.uk/student-awards…

PDRA opportunity in our group UCL Chemistry to develop & characterise ribozymes that harness primordial chemistries. 28 months, funded by BBSRC & Royal Society; org chem or mol bio background. Apply by 7th August: tinyurl.com/4bhhf2v2

Come and join us at our popular Cafe Synthetique on Mon 4 Sept, 6pm. Dr Alex Borodavka 'Viruses:Elegance in their Simplicity or Simply Bad News Wrapped in Protein. Alex Borodavka sign up here meetup.com/cambridge-synt…

It’s official! A permanent academic at last!! See you soon Reggie the Lion 🦁 !! King's College London

A new MPhil programme at the University of Cambridge will deliver postgraduate training in the search for life’s origins on Earth and its discovery on planets beyond Earth. cam.ac.uk/stories/explor… via Cambridge University

Porebski et al. hit the motherlode of antibody affinity data by repurposing a DNA sequencer - enough data to both identify better antibodies, and then improve them using machine learning.

Could our type of life be an invention of older, [biochemically] alien life? Exciting findings by Matthew Powner Nature Communications suggest that prebiotic chemistry scenarios could’ve provided the building blocks of an ‘XNA world’ predating RNA & DNA communities.springernature.com/posts/prebioti…

I'm currently looking to recruit a PhD student interested in synthetic polymers (ucl.ac.uk/chemistry/stud…, 1 week left to deadline!) and a postdoc to study models of primordial biology (bit.ly/48OnSOu)

4-year studentship available in my lab at King's Chemistry working at the interface of fundamental synthetic biology and therapeutic biotechnology development - come & join me in the XNA world! Please RT findaphd.com/phds/project/c…

Hey, #synbio people. Wes Robertson, A good friend of mine and a great scientist is starting his lab @MRC_LMB This is a unique opportunity to have an impact in #synthetic_genomics and work under leadership of talented and ambitious PI. shorturl.at/mnvw9

Finally out, Falk's paper on the evolution of function starting from single RNA sequences …mistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sy… Thanks to Ben Porebski and Chris Johnson for great contributions.

I'm finally updating group website and I am hoping to take blogging a little bit more seriously. So, question to X: what aspect of directed evolution would you like to hear about? Or what concept you think is often misunderstood in DE?