Vision | Cells by Design
The potential for synthetic biology | By Pamela Silver and Jeffrey Way

© 2003 Nature Publishing Group

Synthetic biology is a new discipline based on the expectation of a
revolution. In the future, bioengineers will create new organisms based on
the same strategies that engineers use to design computer chips, bridges,
and skyscrapers. Mathematical modeling will drive the design of useful,
artificial organisms, instead of relying on the blind, trial-and-error
methods of natural selection.

Advocates say synthetic biology will develop because of the rapidly
decreasing cost of DNA synthesis and sequencing. Commercial
plasmid-synthesis companies currently construct large pieces of DNA for less
than $3 per base, and the price continues to drop,1 making the
contract-synthesis of an entire bacterial genome feasible at costs
comparable to preclinical drug development. Just as cheap transistors
preceded the computer revolution, commoditization of DNA synthesis will spur
huge changes in biological construction.

The capability to cheaply synthesize DNA is so powerful that no one quite
knows what to do with it. A graduate student will soon be able to mail-order
large gene complexes without putting a dent in the budget. For the student,
the focus suddenly shifts from the tedium of DNA construction to more basic
questions: What should I make? How should I design my DNA construct? How
should I debug and optimize it?

At a few institutions around the country, engineers, biologists, biological
engineers, and others from computer programming, biotechnology, hardware
design, drug development, and bioethics have begun addressing these
questions. The field embodies a sometimes-dissonant meld of scientists, who
want to understand biology, and engineers, who want to rebuild it. Both may
get their wish. As the field works to create new living systems that serve a
purpose, making possible microbial factories, cancer smart-bombs, pollutant
detectors, and living calculators, a new foundation for biological
understanding should emerge.

Full Text at TheScientist
http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2004/sep/research2_040927.html

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