What is Synthetic Biology?

Synthetic biology is a field of science that involves redesigning organisms for useful purposes by engineering them to have new abilities (NIH). Synthetic biology harnesses the power of nature to solve or enhance modern day problems.

Synthetic biology is very connected to genome editing but is very different. The difference is how changes are made to the organism. Synthetic biology according to NIH “ …scientists typically stitch together long stretches of DNA and insert them into an organism’s genome”. The synthesized pieces of DNA could be entirely new or found in other organisms. Genome editing is making changes to something that already exists, and synthetic biology involves creating something new.

How are synthetic biology and genome editing connected?

Apart from being very similar in process, both will reimagine multiple industries. Healthcare, and agriculture. There are many other industries they can affect and improve.

Healthcare

Already, scientists are capable if engineering immune cells that recognize and attack cancer cells (Fletcher). Genetically engineered viruses are being used to correct defective genes in patients with inherited diseases such as Severe Combined Immune Deficiency or epidermolysis bullosa.

It's easy to imagine where scientists will plan on taking this technology what the workplace priorities may be. I can imagine there is a specific field in healthcare where they focus on producing and researching bacteria and or viruses for diseases that are not curable by normal means.

Agriculture

Agriculture is another industry where advancements in synthetic biology can be applied to. A specific example of this in modern times are microbes that have been genetically engineered to produce scents from plants long extinct. (Rutkin).

El Karoui, Meriem, et al. “Future Trends in Synthetic Biology-A Report.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 8 July 2019, www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2019.00175/full.

Rutkin, Aviva. “Would You Wear Yeast Perfume? Microbes Used to Brew Scent.” New Scientist, 4 Mar. 2015, www.newscientist.com/article/mg22530113-600-would-you-wear-yeast-perfume-microbes-used-to-brew-scent/.

“Synthetic Biology.” Genome.gov, www.genome.gov/about-genomics/policy-issues/Synthetic-Biology.