The Galloway Lab showed that the order and orientation of neighboring genes control their expression. In a study appearing in Science, researchers created tandem gene circuits (one gene after another) and divergent circuits (genes pointed away from each other). Because of changes to the shape of DNA that occurs during transcription, downstream genes were suppressed in tandem circuits and both genes were amplified in divergent circuits. Their findings could make it easier to design synthetic gene circuits that program cell and gene therapies.