This is a guest post from M. A. Loera Snchez from the iGEM team UANL 2012. I have carried out a few small grammar edits but otherwise the essay is all his work, and I would like to thank him for the opportunity to host it on my blog. All references are below the main text.
The mainstream fronts of synthetic biology
What I cannot build, I cannot understand.
This phrase by the genius physicist Richard Feynman is cleverly encrypted into the genetic code of the first bacterial cells with an artificial genome that have ever existed.
Actually the quote says what I cannot create, but maybe the scientists at the JCVI who are behind this tremendous breakthrough- preferred to save some base pairs to avoid the use of the word create and its tricky implications.They published this work in 2010 and opened a whole new world of possibilities and made it completely clear to anyone what we mean when we talk about Synthetic Biology and what its ultimate purpose should be: to understand life by building it.
Although the term Synthetic Biology has been around since the mid-1970s, the definition of it has been very vague: some people would call Synthetic Biology anything related to general genetic engineering procedures; others, perhaps more rightfully, would claim to be doing Synthetic Biology because of working with DNA synthesis or making bacteria behave like tiny computers. Even the 2010 report by the US Presidencial Comission for the Study of Bioethical Issues has to define the term considering different points of view (that of the molecular biology, the chemist and the engineer) and states that the activities related to Synthetic Biology are considered by some to be just extensions of already existing fields, like Molecular Biology, Genetic Engineering and Microbiology.
I remember (oh, the shame!) being skeptic about the possibility of something so oxymoronic being, well true. I still turn red when I recall that I kind of corrected the person who first said Synthetic Biology to me by telling her that what she wanted to say was maybe Systems Biology.
So what is it really?
Well, my work in Bio! has been devoted to dig into the deeps of Synthetic Biology and the iGEM competition, and throughout this time I began to notice what I would call the mainstream fronts of Synthetic Biology. These are the main orientations that so called Synthetic Biology projects would take and by enlisting them, I think it will be easier to clarify the distinctive characteristics of this field.
Front 1: DNA synthesis
Read more from the original source:
The mainstream fronts of Synthetic Biology: Guest post
- Host change alters toxic cocktail - March 19th, 2011 [March 19th, 2011]
- Integrative Biology 131 - Lecture 01: Organization of Body - August 27th, 2011 [August 27th, 2011]
- Systems Biology Lecture 1 - August 27th, 2011 [August 27th, 2011]
- Biology 1B - Lecture 24: Phylogenetics - August 28th, 2011 [August 28th, 2011]
- Biology 1B - Lecture 28: Evolutionary Medicine - Published ! - August 28th, 2011 [August 28th, 2011]
- 1. Introduction to Human Behavioral Biology - August 29th, 2011 [August 29th, 2011]
- Bill Nye: 100 Greatest Discoveries : Biology (Discovery Channel) 3/3 - August 31st, 2011 [August 31st, 2011]
- Introduction to Biology - 1 - What is Biology? - August 31st, 2011 [August 31st, 2011]
- What is Biology? - September 3rd, 2011 [September 3rd, 2011]
- Biology 1B - Lecture 16: Population Genetics I: Mendel, Darw - September 3rd, 2011 [September 3rd, 2011]
- Bill Nye: 100 Greatest Discoveries : Biology (Discovery Channel) 2/3 - September 4th, 2011 [September 4th, 2011]
- Biology 1B - Lecture 3 - September 6th, 2011 [September 6th, 2011]
- Biology: Proteins: Amino Acids - September 8th, 2011 [September 8th, 2011]
- Girls Aloud - Biology - September 9th, 2011 [September 9th, 2011]
- Biology 1A - Lecture 3: Cell structure and organization -#1 - September 10th, 2011 [September 10th, 2011]
- Biology 1A - Lecture 2 - September 11th, 2011 [September 11th, 2011]
- Biology of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias - September 11th, 2011 [September 11th, 2011]
- Bill Nye: 100 Greatest Discoveries : Biology (Discovery Channel) 1/3 - September 11th, 2011 [September 11th, 2011]
- What is Biology - Part 1: Lecture 1.1 - September 12th, 2011 [September 12th, 2011]
- Lec 1 | MIT 7.012 Introduction to Biology, Fall 2004 - September 15th, 2011 [September 15th, 2011]
- (Notes On) Biology - September 17th, 2011 [September 17th, 2011]
- Biology Introduction - September 18th, 2011 [September 18th, 2011]
- Biology 1B - Lecture 10: Paleoecology and Hominid Ecology - September 20th, 2011 [September 20th, 2011]
- Zen Biology Lesson for Enlightenment - September 20th, 2011 [September 20th, 2011]
- Biology: Mitosis: An Overview - September 23rd, 2011 [September 23rd, 2011]
- Synthetic Biology: Drew Endy - September 24th, 2011 [September 24th, 2011]
- ATP: Adenosine Triphosphate - September 26th, 2011 [September 26th, 2011]
- Biology 1B - Lecture 13: Conclusion - September 27th, 2011 [September 27th, 2011]
- Biology 1AL - Lecture 1 - September 30th, 2011 [September 30th, 2011]
- Biology 1A - Lecture 7: Cell membrane structure and transpor - October 1st, 2011 [October 1st, 2011]
- Biology 1AL - Lecture 4: Lab 5: Complementation I, Genetics - October 4th, 2011 [October 4th, 2011]
- Pilobolus: A performance merging dance and biology - October 4th, 2011 [October 4th, 2011]
- Molecular Biology's Central Dogma - October 4th, 2011 [October 4th, 2011]
- Biology 1A - Lecture 15: The Laws that Govern the Inheritanc - October 4th, 2011 [October 4th, 2011]
- Biology 1B - Lecture 1: Introduction to Ecology - October 4th, 2011 [October 4th, 2011]
- Girls Aloud - Biology Live At Wembley - October 4th, 2011 [October 4th, 2011]
- Lec 1 | MIT 7.014 Introductory Biology, Spring 2005 - October 7th, 2011 [October 7th, 2011]
- The New Biology - From Victim to Master of Your Health - October 7th, 2011 [October 7th, 2011]
- Synthetic Biology Explained - October 7th, 2011 [October 7th, 2011]
- Andrew Hessel - Introduction to Synthetic Biology - October 7th, 2011 [October 7th, 2011]
- Foldit: Biology for gamers - by Nature Video - October 7th, 2011 [October 7th, 2011]
- Bruce Lipton - Biology of Perception 1 of 7 - October 12th, 2011 [October 12th, 2011]
- Biology 1B - Lecture 15: Darwin and the Origin II - October 12th, 2011 [October 12th, 2011]
- Girls Aloud - Biology - Video - October 13th, 2011 [October 13th, 2011]
- Biology 1A - Lecture 14: How Somatic Cells - Mitosis - and G - Video - October 13th, 2011 [October 13th, 2011]
- Dna Molecular Biology Visualizations - Wrapping And Replicat - Video - October 13th, 2011 [October 13th, 2011]
- The Biology Song - Video - October 14th, 2011 [October 14th, 2011]
- What is Biology? - Video - October 14th, 2011 [October 14th, 2011]
- Lec 2 | MIT 7.014 Introductory Biology, Spring 2005 - Video - October 14th, 2011 [October 14th, 2011]
- Biology 1A - Lecture 19: Gene Expression II - RNA is transla - Video - October 15th, 2011 [October 15th, 2011]
- Biology 1B - Lecture 14: Darwin and the Origin of Species I - Video - October 15th, 2011 [October 15th, 2011]
- Biology 1A - Lecture 1 - Video - October 15th, 2011 [October 15th, 2011]
- Integrative Biology 131 - Lecture 18: Lymphatic System - Video - October 20th, 2011 [October 20th, 2011]
- biology - nuclear transfer (clone creating) - Video - October 20th, 2011 [October 20th, 2011]
- Introduction to Biology - Video - October 20th, 2011 [October 20th, 2011]
- Biology 1A - Lecture 1: Course introduction. Introduction to macromolecules. - Video - October 23rd, 2011 [October 23rd, 2011]
- Bruce Lipton - Biology of Perception 2 of 7 - Video - October 23rd, 2011 [October 23rd, 2011]
- Seinfeld - Marine Biologist - Video - October 27th, 2011 [October 27th, 2011]
- Biological Classification: Kingdoms - Video - October 28th, 2011 [October 28th, 2011]
- A Biologist's St. Patrick's Day Song - Video - October 28th, 2011 [October 28th, 2011]
- A Biologist's Mother's Day Song - Video - October 30th, 2011 [October 30th, 2011]
- Biology 1B - Lecture 28: Fungal diversity and reproduction - Video - November 2nd, 2011 [November 2nd, 2011]
- Learn Biology: Ecosystem Definition - November 5th, 2011 [November 5th, 2011]
- Learn Biology: Gregor Mendel Biography - Video - November 6th, 2011 [November 6th, 2011]
- TEDxCaltech - J. Craig Venter - Future Biology - Video - November 8th, 2011 [November 8th, 2011]
- Biology 1B - Lecture 31: Origin of land plants - bryophytes - Video - November 8th, 2011 [November 8th, 2011]
- Practical biology - The Thin Blue Line - Video - November 8th, 2011 [November 8th, 2011]
- Dr. Karin Remington on Computational Biology - Video - November 14th, 2011 [November 14th, 2011]
- Bully-Soundtrack Biology Class - Video - November 14th, 2011 [November 14th, 2011]
- From Chemtrails to Pseudo-Life- The Dark Agenda of Synthetic Biology. SLIDE SHOW - Video - November 14th, 2011 [November 14th, 2011]
- ROUTINE OF EXERCISES TO LOSE WEIGHT WITH THE BIOLOGICAL AND DOMESTIC GYMNASTICS OF LUIS MORI - Video - November 14th, 2011 [November 14th, 2011]
- Biology 1B - Lecture 7: Trophic Dynamics and Biogeography - Video - November 14th, 2011 [November 14th, 2011]
- Plant Tissue Arrangement in Organs (AP Biology) - Video - November 14th, 2011 [November 14th, 2011]
- BIOLOGICAL GYMNASTICS OF WEIGHT'S REDUCTION BY LUIS MORI-YEAR 2012 - Video - November 14th, 2011 [November 14th, 2011]
- From Chemtrails to Pseudo-Life: The Dark Agenda of Synthetic Biology (FULL LENGTH VIDEO) - Video - November 14th, 2011 [November 14th, 2011]
- Pre-AP Biology - Unit 5.12 - Translation.mp4 - Video - November 14th, 2011 [November 14th, 2011]
- Marine Biology Research @ Clark U - Video - November 14th, 2011 [November 14th, 2011]
- Major in a Minute: Biology - Video - November 17th, 2011 [November 17th, 2011]
- Bruce Lipton - Biology of Perception 3 of 7 - Video - November 17th, 2011 [November 17th, 2011]
- Biology: Carbohydrates: Monosaccharides - Video - November 17th, 2011 [November 17th, 2011]