PODCAST: "A Powerful, New Tool for DNA Research"

—Scott Silverman, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is interviewed by John Sterling, Editor in Chief, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News.
WHEN: August 20–August 27, 2009

Better approaches for manipulating DNA in the laboratory may soon be possible with newly discovered deoxyribozymes that are capable of cleaving single-stranded DNA, according to researchers at the University of Illinois. The deoxyribozymes accomplish the DNA cleavage with the sequence-selectivity and site-selectivity required for a practical catalyst, they add.

During this week’s podcast Dr. Scott Silverman describes how his team discovered the new deoxyribozymes and looks at comparisons to restriction enzymes. He also discusses the significance of the finding for the life science research community.

Dr. Silverman explains why he finds it intriguing that the novel deoxyribozymes require two metal ions, manganese and zinc, to carry out their catalysis and talks about where further research on these catalytic DNA molecules may be headed.

LISTEN NOW to this week's GEN podcast.