.png)
Topic 2: Synthetic Biology and its Potential Implications
- Angelica Antonakopoulos
- Feb 10, 2022
- 2 min read
As a new and emerging discipline, synthetic biology uses principles from engineering to develop new biological systems that are not naturally occurring. Current research involves:
1-developing standardized biological parts that can be used to build simple biological systems:
2- applied protein design that allows for the expansion of the set of functions of naturally occurring proteins
3- synthetic genomics, in which simple bacterium genomes can be engineered.
Synthetic Biotechnology is a lucrative industry, numerous consumer companies produce bio products for use in bio products and the healthcare sector.
For the sake of this discussion, focus will remain on synthetic biology within the healthcare sector. Small molecules can be produced on demand. Whilst it is a trying process to produce designer molecules for use in medicine, current advances include CAR (chimeric antigen receptors) which are capable of priming T-cells to recognize and attack cancer cells. Vectors are being developed to deliver large genetic loads to target tissues. Such developments would produce efficient therapeutics and vaccines with lower production costs.
Despite the difficulty of heavily modifying natural molecules, initiatives such as the Human Genome Project are already aiming to build an entire human chromosome. The initiative also aims to build a virus resistant chromosome, requiring hundreds of thousands of changes to the human genome.
Whilst synthetic biology is an exciting avenue of biology, there are numerous risks associated with the technology and research methods used. There are numerous concerns surrounding the potential release of laboratory bio forms into the environment, whether intentionally or accidentally. The ability to modify or engineer bio forms can also be used with malicious intent, opening up avenues for biological warfare.
One of the most well known synthetic biology devices is CRISPR (Clustered Regularly-Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) gene therapy. CRISPR/Cas9 is a site specific nuclease system and is common in gene editing. In 2018, a pair of non identical twin girls were the first humans to be born using the CRISPR gene editing method. The scientist overseeing the project was later sentenced to three years in prison. The understanding that CRISPR will allow scientists to remove certain ailments facing embryos in vitro is a polarizing application of the technology.
Whilst a promising branch of medicine, certain applications of synthetic biology seem rather polarizing. This leads to an important question that can be applied to many avenues of science: How can we tell when a scientific development is too much?
Think about the following questions/suggestions before our next meeting:
Is there such a thing as: taking science too far?
Should the focus of scientific research be on the optimization of humanity regardless of ethics?
How can (or should) scientists hold themselves accountable for the ethical/global implications of their research?
Have a look at a few different developments in synthetic biology. Feel free to discuss why you think they are beneficial and what kinds of avenues for further research that they open.
Sources:
Media for further reading:
Products of synthetic biology that are commercially available
Introduction to synthetic biology
J. Craig Venter discusses the development of a fully artificial genome
Explore the World of CRISPR- one of the most successful synthetic biology developments to date
Comments