life science

Rice University creates innovative new institute for synthetic biology

The new Rice Synthetic Biology Institute is part of an $82 million investment the university put toward synthetic biology, neuroengineering, and physical biology in 2018.

Photo via Rice University

Rice University announced this month that it has officially launched the new Rice Synthetic Biology Institute.

The institute aims to strengthen the synthetic biology community across disciplines at the university, according to an announcement from Rice. It is part of an $82 million investment the university put toward synthetic biology, neuroengineering, and physical biology in 2018.

RSBI will be led by Caroline Ajo-Franklin, professor of biosciences, bioengineering, and chemical and biomolecular engineering, with support from a faculty steering committee. “At Rice, we have such deep expertise in synthetic biology,” Ajo-Franklin said in the announcement. “Connecting that deep expertise through this institute will lead to better science and more innovation.”

Synthetic biology is a discipline in which "researchers design living systems with new properties to address societal needs," according to Rice, with applications in medicine, manufacturing and environmental sustainability.

The university says that there are currently 18 faculty and more than 100 students and postdoctoral scholars at Rice working in this field within the schools of engineering and natural sciences.

The institute will initially focus on four research themes:

Controlling the biological synthesis and patterning of proteins and cells into living materials that self-replicate and self-repair across a range of length scales
Understanding cells as natural sensors and repurposing them into living therapeutics to detect and treat diseases, maintain health and prevent infections
Developing living electronics to convert biochemical information into information-dense electronic signals in real-time at the cell-material interface
Supporting cross-cutting scholarship aimed at accelerating the Design-Build-Test-Learn cycle and understanding the ethical, legal and social implications of translating these technologies into the public domain.

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Trucking news

Driverless truck company postpones route between Houston and Dallas

Photo courtesy of Aurora

Driverless semis traveling from Dallas to Houston were expected to launch this year.

Autonomous truck company Aurora Innovation says it won't start hauling freight without humans on board until April of 2025, a delay from previous statements that commercial service would begin by the end of 2024.

The Pittsburgh company said the April launch of driverless semis traveling from Dallas to Houston — originally announced last year — will be “modestly later” than the company had intended. The company also previously announced a partnership with Uber.

The company told investors on its third-quarter earnings conference call that it has made progress toward ensuring its trucks will operate safely.

Remaining obstacles are “primarily in the areas of some elements of surface street driving and some elements of construction that we see on the freeway,” CEO Chris Urmson said. “We want to have extremely high confidence in the system as we as we go forward.”

The company will start with about 10 autonomous tractor-trailers and move to “tens” of trucks by the end of next year, Urmson said.

“This shift to our timeline will have a negligible financial impact and does not affect our scaling efforts on our path to self-funding," Urmson said.

Aurora also intends to haul freight without human drivers from Fort Worth to Phoenix later in 2025, Urmson said.

Aurora in August added nearly $500 million to its balance sheet with a capital raise in August, which the company expects to fund the initial phases of its strategy to scale up driverless trucking.

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