Exploring Synthetic Biology

1. Background
2. Speaker Profiles
3. Recommended Resources
4. Audio Links

Background

Wednesday 20th April 2011

Often referred to by the media as "extreme engineering” and "biotechnology on steroids," synthetic biology represents a shift from merely seeking to understand biological systems to actually creating new ones.

Advances in this emerging technology unite multidisciplinary research and is driven by engineering and science. However, as with any new technology there are profound ethical, social and regulatory implications. Whilst there is agreement across the board that regulation will play an integral and necessary part in the maturity of synthetic biology, there is a diversity of opinion with regard to the scope and structure of such governance.

To what extent would the application of synthetic biology result in new manipulative possibilities for the human project in terms of the design and creation of life? Making alterations to natural life involves a certain degree of risk. At this time scientists do not yet understand how to synthesize organisms with predictable replication and mutation properties. Given how versatile microbes can be in adapting to the alterations carried out by human interventions, if mistakes are made then they will be replicated and may quickly become uncontrollable and unmanageable. What happens if redesigned bacteria and viruses are loosed into the environment? What would be the impact on the environment?

Likewise, there is the obvious attraction to terrorists of being able to radically alter and modify viruses and bacteria given the fact that it is relatively inexpensive to do. Coupled with this is the fact that as synthetic biology develops calls are being made to make synthetic biology ‘open source’. This would effectively mean that instructions for creating synthetics would be available via the Internet. In turn this makes the potential for synthetic biology-enabled bioterrorism far more likely.

This symposium, co-hosted with The Biochemical Society, sought to assess the impact and future implications surrounding synthetic biology through short expert presentations, panel and Q&A discussions.




 

Speaker Profiles

Dr. Jim Haseloff
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge

Jim Haseloff is a plant biologist working at the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge. His scientific interests are focused on the engineering of plant morphogenesis, using microscopy, molecular genetic, computational and synthetic biology techniques.

Prior to joining the Department of Plant Sciences, Jim served as group leader at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge and his group developed advanced imaging techniques and modified fluorescent proteins for efficient use in plants. Before this, Jim was a research fellow at Harvard Medical School, working on trans-splicing ribozymes. He has also worked at the CSIRO Division of Plant Industry, Canberra, and developed methods for the design of the first synthetic RNA enzymes with novel substrate specificities.

Jim is deeply involved with teaching Synthetic Biology at the University of Cambridge, and is very interested in its wider potential as a tool for engineering biological systems and underpinning sustainable technologies.

http://www.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/Haseloff/

Dr. Catherine Rhodes
Research Fellow in Science Ethics, Institute for Science, Ethics, and Innovation, University of Manchester

Catherine joined the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation (iSEI) in November 2008. She has a background in international relations and, prior to joining iSEI, worked in the Peace Studies Department at Bradford University where, as part of a Project to Strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention, she assessed coherence among the international regulations relevant to governance of the biotechnology revolution. A book based on this work – International Governance of Biotechnology: Needs, Problems and Potential – has recently been published by Bloomsbury Academic.

One of her first tasks at iSEI was to develop a draft of Who Owns Science? The Manchester Manifesto – a consensus statement on the effects of intellectual property rights on access to science and innovation. Catherine continues to work on issues relating to the management of innovation and on the international governance of biotechnology (and science more generally). Recently this has included work examining: how international organisations cooperate on issues of common concern; the meaning and content of scientific responsibility at the international level; and whether increased university patenting threatens academic freedom. Catherine has also been a visiting fellow at the Brocher Foundation, Geneva and has worked as a consultant for LGC Ltd on a European Commission project on biotechnology regulation.

Melanie Duffield
Team Leader - Advanced DNA and Protein Technologies, Defence Science & Technology Laboratories (Dstl), Porton Down

Melanie Duffield completed a BSc in Microbiology and Genetics at Cardiff University before doing a PhD with the University of Birmingham looking into higher alcohol production beer whilst working at the laboratories of Bass Brewing Company.  She then went to work for Centre of Applied Microbiology and Research (CAMR, which is now part of the HPA), before moving to Dstl  in 2001.  At CAMR Melanie studied thermophilic proteins and this led into an interest into their sequence and structure to determine what gave them their thermostability.  This in turn led to an interest into bioinformatics and since 1990 this has been her main interest of work.  At Dstl Melanie has applied bioinformatics to a number of projects, including genome annotation, data mining and target identification for medical countermeasures or detection purposes.   In addition, she leads a team of multi-disciplined scientists working on a number of biological projects.

Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg

Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is an artist, designer and writer, using the medium of design to examine the social, ethical and cultural implications of emerging technology and science.

Through intensive research into synthetic biology, Daisy is exploring the role of design in a Biotech Revolution. Now Design Fellow on Synthetic Aesthetics, an NSF/EPSRC-funded project at Stanford and Edinburgh Universities, she is curating an international programme researching the shared and shifting territory between synthetic biology, art and design.

Daisy studied Architecture at Cambridge University, design at Harvard University, and has an MA in Design Interactions from the Royal College of Art. Recent works include The Synthetic Kingdom, a proposal for a new branch of the Tree of Life and E.chromi, a collaboration with design James King and Cambridge University's winning team at the 2009 International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM). Daisy exhibits her work, lectures and publishes internationally.

www.daisyginsberg.com

 

Resources

Speaker slide presentations (PDFs)




• Dr. Jim Haseloff, University of Cambridge
• Dr. Catherine Rhodes, Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation
  
• Melanie Duffield, Defence Science & Technology Laboratories (Dstl)

 




> E.chromi

E. chromi is a collaboration between designers and scientists in the new field of synthetic biology. In 2009, seven Cambridge University undergraduates spent the summer genetically engineering bacteria to secrete a variety of coloured pigments, visible to the naked eye. They designed standardised sequences of DNA, known as BioBricks, and inserted them into E. coli bacteria. Each BioBrick part contains genes selected from existing organisms spanning the living kingdoms, enabling the bacteria to produce a colour: red, yellow, green, blue, brown or violet. By combining these with other BioBricks, bacteria could be programmed to do useful things, such as indicate whether drinking water is safe by turning red if they sense a toxin. E. chromi won the Grand Prize at the 2009 International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM).

 

Designers Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and James King worked with the team to explore the potential of this new technology, while it was being developed in the lab. They designed a timeline proposing ways that a foundational technology such as E. chromi could develop over the next century.

E. chromi from Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg on Vimeo.

 

> SynbioSafe
Expert Interviews on Synthetic Biology

http://www.synbiosafe.eu/index.php?page=expert-interviews


> FORA.TV
Drew Endy and Jim Thomas Debate Synthetic Biology






> SynBioSafe e-Conference
http://www.synbiosafe.eu/forum/




> Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues (2010)

New Directions: The Ethics of Synthetic Biology and Emerging Technologies
Published: December 2010

 

> The European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies to the European Commission

Proceedings of the round-table debate on "Ethical Aspects of Synthetic Biology"

Opinion No. 25 - Ethics of synthetic biology


> The Royal Academy of Engineering
Synthetic Biology: scope, applications and implications




> The Hastings Center – Synthetic Biology section

 

> PLoS Biology 8(11), e1000549, Published: November 2010

Open engagement: Exploring public participation in the biosciences

 

 

Audio

Audio recordings of this Symposium can be downloaded here