What is Synthetic Biology?

Synthetic Biology has been defined as “the design and engineering of biologically based parts, novel devices and systems as well as the redesign of existing, natural biological systems” (UK Synthetic Biology Roadmap).

However, Synthetic Biology means different things depending on who you talk to (Endy, D. (2005). Foundations for engineering biology. Nature, 438(7067), 449-453):

For biologists, constructing a synthetic biological system is a direct and convincing way to demonstrate that you understand the system.
For chemists, synthetic biology is an extension of synthetic chemistry and the bottom-up fabrication of new materials, drugs, fuels, and so on.
For engineers, biology is a new media for human creativity which is currently in the process of standardisation and characterisation required for the rational design of new technologies.

For the uninitiated, the video below gives a good description of the general principles involved:

If you’d like to learn more about Synthetic Biology, check out the following links, or come to our next event!