Feynman’s Flower

In a wonderfully timed article in Cosmos, I learn that some very insightful students are creating a yeast that will make resveratrol as it ferments beer. That means the benefits of resveratrol will not simply be reserved for snotty red wine lovers (of which I proudly claim membership), but also beer swillers. Here’s to a long life of dark pubs and tipsy darts!

(I say wonderfully timed, since I have resveratrol on my brain due to the launch of my latest molecule offering, the resveratrol necklace.) Resveratrol is interesting because it does wonderful things in mice - from improving cardiovascular health to preventing cancer to significantly increasing lifespan. But don’t go buy yourself a jar of resveratrol pills, just yet. Very few benefits have been shown in humans.

In a clear case of genetic engineering used for the powers of good, these brilliant Rice undergrads are putting resveratrol-making genes into yeast. A (currently still imaginary) libation created with their yeast has been given the unfortunate name BioBeer, but that won’t stop me from buying a case as soon as it hits the shelves. Considering that the project is still incomplete and will have to jump through a number of FDA hoops, this will probably be a ways off. Although I imagine there will be a few fortified keggers in the meantime.

Read about it in Cosmos Magazine

Part of MIT’s iGem competition for students creating cellular machines