Synthetic Biology

Photosynthetic cyanobacteria growing over time as seen through a fluorescence microscope. Learn more...

Synthetic Biology, which has emerged over the last decade, aims to engineer cellular regulatory circuits and the genomes of living organisms, much like electrical engineers design and fabricate microchips. This new field has been made possible by rapid advances in DNA synthesis, enabling the creation of DNA molecules, proteins, and complex gene circuits that are entirely of human design. Because of these efforts, scientists are no longer hampered by the trial-and-error methods of traditional genetic engineering and instead design and build complex integrated systems with desired functions based on a more quantitative understanding of biological function.

Biological circuits

A gene circuit diagram. Learn more...

Some synthetic biologists construct biological circuits out of proteins or genes and use these circuits to reprogram living cells to produce cheaper drugs, attack diseases such as cancer, generate 'green' energy for our cars, and clean our environment. Imagine a normal tooth plaque bacterium engineered as a living cellular device, which senses variations in blood glucose and secretes insulin when needed, or a yeast cell that manufactures biodegradable plastics. Other investigators leverage molecular self-assembly – the same principle that drives natural biological processes – and harness it to assemble complex shapes on the nanometer scale, such as hollow tubes or virus-like geodesic spheres. These nanostructures might be used to carry drug molecules directly to diseased cells, or be programmed to self-assemble into medical devices after being injected into the body.