GeneDesign

Johns Hopkins researchers have announced the development of a web based program that helps to simplify the steps in designing artificial DNA. GeneDesign automates the process of determining which building blocks of DNA should be linked together in a particular order to make a gene.
“GeneDesign not only guides the user in designing the gene, but also automatically diagnoses design flaws in the sequence of bases making up the gene,” said Jef Boeke, Ph.D., professor of molecular biology and genetics and director of the High Throughput Biology Center at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Simplifying creation of artificial genes is important because slight changes in the choice of base pairs making up specific parts of the gene have significant effects on how the gene works and how efficiently it can be inserted into cells. “In the past,” said Boeke, “researchers had to use many different programs to address all the requirements of the separate steps of synthetic gene design.”
Read the full articles at John Hopkins Medicine and NewScientist.com