May 21, 2019
At the Institute of Molecular Biology at Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Christopher Reinkemeier is a Ph.D. student who’s involved with a project that’s providing breakthrough evidence of the ability of synthetic organelles to carry out complex tasks in living cells. How complex? One of the most complex and important processes that cells carry out: translation or the synthesis of proteins. In the body, translation involves hundreds of organic molecules, but the synthetic organelle Reinkemeier has helped to develop requires just five components, which, once in a living cell, recruit all of the other necessary components of translation.
Reinkemeier provides an in-depth discussion about the science behind what they’ve created, and the significance of the fact that it’s capable of modifying one messenger RNA (mRNA) for the production of one, specifically modified protein. Tune in for all the details.