Synthetic Biology - as I use the term - is an emerging engineering discipline aimed at designing and building biological systems using standard engineering techniques, rather than the usual approach of searching nature for existing "devices" that accomplish the desired task.
In particular, genetic sequences are starting to be understood to the point that different logic "functions" can be genetically built in the lab. As the science behind this progresses, these functions will be connected and the basis for genetic software engineering will be in place. At that point, the relatively mature field of computer science and all the tools and techniques contained therein can be applied, possibly resulting in a major advance in medicine, agriculture, and many other fields.
In particular, genetic sequences are starting to be understood to the point that different logic "functions" can be genetically built in the lab. As the science behind this progresses, these functions will be connected and the basis for genetic software engineering will be in place. At that point, the relatively mature field of computer science and all the tools and techniques contained therein can be applied, possibly resulting in a major advance in medicine, agriculture, and many other fields.
Thoughts on Synthetic Biology
Synthetic Biology on the Web
- Synthetic Biology.org
- Site maintained by the MIT Synthetic Biology Working Group
- Wikipedia Definition
- Definition of Synthetic Biology from Wikipedia.
- Registry of Standard Biological Parts
- A library of biological components (run by MIT) that can be used to assemble a genetic program or device.
- Harman Technologies
- Entries from my weblog discussing Synthetic Biology.
- The Ribosome Builder Project [Sourceforge]
- The Ribosome Builder Project aims to simulate the dynamic behavior of the ribosomal translational machinery. A secondary goal is the establishment of an open source project for developing modular, reusable, portable and documented software components and frameworks for structural and dynamical molecular modeling.
- LANL simulates a ribosome
- Scientists at Los Alamos have completed the first million-atom computer simulation, a 2.64M-atom simulation of a ribosome conducting an RNA translation. There are immediate implications for antibody research.
- Life Engineering Presentations
- Presentations on "Life Engineering" by the National Academies.
- Paras Chopra
- Blog on BioHacking.
Big Names in Synthetic Biology
- Drew Endy
- Fellow: Division of Biological Engineering & Department of Biology, MIT
- Tom Knight
- A research scientist at MIT.
- Ron Weiss
- Assistant professor at Princeton.
- Chris Voigt
- @ UCSF
Synthetic Biology in Print
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by GM
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