Align abstract to the left

Question

I have the following two issues. For a university paper, I'd like to realign the abstract to fit with the rest of the page as well as putting the abstract title ("Abstract") on the same level as the text.

Answer 1

It makes sense to redefine the abstract environment:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multicol}

\usepackage{lipsum} % just for the example

\renewenvironment{abstract}
 {\par\noindent\textbf{\abstractname.}\ \ignorespaces}
 {\par\medskip}

\begin{document}

\begin{multicols}{2}
\begin{abstract}
Some text for the abstract, let's make sure it
goes on two or more lines.
\end{abstract}

\section{Introduction}

\lipsum[2]

\section{Another}

\lipsum

\end{multicols}

\end{document}

Answer 2

Instead of typing

\begin{abstract}
Errors in gene expression are quite common \dots
\end{abstract}

type

\subsection*{Abstract} 
Errors in gene expression are quite common \dots