Still Cautious Around Synthetic Biology

A recent news article in Medical News Today talks about a survey of 1000 U.S. adults and their opinions of synthetic biology. The survey was conducted by Hart Research Associates and the Synthetic Biology Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

Two thirds of those surveyed believe that synthetic biology should be a field that moves forward, while the remaining third believe we should put a ban on research until the implications and risks are fully assessed.

"The survey shows that attitudes about synthetic biology are not clear-cut and that its application is an important factor in shaping public attitudes towards it," said Geoff Garin, President of Hart Research.

Read the full article here.

Patrick

Genetically Engineering Farmed Animals

    Since the introduction of genetic engineering techniques, people have been very polarized about the whole concept. Some see solutions to global problems, while others see naught but a Brave New World in the future. Regardless of your viewpoint, practical genetic manipulation is getting closer and closer to impacting everyday life. A few major projects involving farm animals have been completed (read the details here), and are currently in the federal approval process.
    Projects like the Enviropig (I love that name); a type of pig that needs to eat less to maintain the same health and body weight while producing less, and less environmentally-damaging, waste. Another is also using pigs, causing them to change much of the fat in their bodies (and so in our pork and bacon) from omega-6 into omega-3, which is much healthier for us.
   Both have the possibility of seeing the market in just a few years, so the public reaction can't be far off. Should be interesting to see the outcome of this sure-to-be lively debate!

Dave

Synthetic Immune System?

Imagine taking a drop of your blood, dripping it into a bowl and having it travel through a network of vessels to different colonies of yeast. Each colony would act as an external biosensor for your body detecting a variety of deficiencies and possible anomalies that could be present. It is personalized medicine to the extreme, customized to your body and lifestyle. For example, if you had anaemia the yeast would monitor your iron levels in your blood and alert you if they got low. A different colony of yeast could even synthesize the needed iron for you, which would be sent back to you through the network of vessels, to be absorbed through a mouthpiece. Sound fictitious? Well that’s probably because it is. But Tuur van Balen, a designer in London has just this vision. He calls it the Synthetic Immune System. He imagines that in the future, synthetic biology could lead to a more personalized approach to medicine where we might even outsource our own metabolic actions to engineered organisms such as Yeast. He displayed his model and vision at an exhibition at the Royal College of Art in March. For more information, check out this link to his website.

Emily

How do you define an organism?

Despite being defined in high school biology textbooks everywhere, this is a question the National Research Council (NRC) is currently asking. They are particularly interested in the context of their Select Agent list, which designates dangerous organisms with the potential to be used as weapons. This was generally clear-cut before; Bacillus anthracis (the cause of anthrax) was Bacillus anthracis, it was dangerous and controlled, and Bacillus subtlis (causes no disease) was different and benign. But these days, where synthesizing DNA is becoming cheaper and widespread, that distinction may not hold. What if someone were to take a non-controlled organism, and give it some toxin genes from a controlled organism? If this organism looks like the benign one, but causes disease like the controlled one, which is it? Should we be defining an organism based on its DNA sequence? Read the full story here.

Genetically Engineered Clock Powered by Quorum Sensing

Researchers at the University of San Diego have been working on the creation of a bacterial clock. Their system relies on the bacterial communication system known as quorum sensing. In nature, microorganisms such as E coli use pheromone-like molecules called autoinducers to communicate and monitor their population density. The researchers made use of the autoinducer AHL and three different engineered circuits using the LuxI promoter.

One circuit consists of the luxI promoter with the luxI gene downtream. The luxI gene product is involved in the synthesis of AHL, which when bound to luxR, which is constitutively produced, activates the lux I promoter. The other two circuits use the same promoter, but with GFP and aiia downstream. Aiia is a molecule that degrades AHL. When a limited number of cells are present, these promoters are not activated. The cells produce AHL naturally, but not enough to cause activation. When the population recahes a certain level, 'quorum', however, there is enough AHL present that all of the luxI promters are activated and there is a burst of GFP expression. This occurs until enough aiia is also produced that it can degrade all fo the AHL. With not enough AHL present, the luxI promoters are all turned off and the cycle can start again. The result of their system is that they have a population of bacteria that glow green at intervals, a type of visual genetically engineered clock. The researchers hope that this will eventually lead the way to genetic sensors able to pulse differently dependent on different environmental conditions such as the presence of certain toxins.

For more details, check out this article published in Nature :

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v463/n7279/pdf/nature08753.pdf

Emily

Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention Update

Last week the U.S. State Department Released an unclassified version of the report "Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Committees". The report can be viewed here.

The compliance of certain countries with the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BTWC) is covered in a section of this report. This report addresses the activity of nine state parties of the BTWC, China, Cuba, India, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Pakistan, and Russia. Also, biological weapon activity of Egypt, Syria, and Taiwan was evaluated. Egypt and Syria are signed but not ratified members of the treaty.

In this report, Egypt, India, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, and Taiwan were all found to be in full compliance with the BTWC, although not all of the countries being evaluated were found to be in full compliance. If Syria was ratified, it would be in violation of the treaty as it maintains the stance that Syria is "entitled to defend itself by acquiring its own chemical and biological deterrent". Available information leads to the belief that North Korea may still consider the use of chemical and biological weapon. In previous reports, the U.S. has expressed the worry that North Korea may have biological weapons agents weaponized in violation of the treaty.

China, Cuba, Iran, and Russia were not in violation of the convention, but were found to be engaging in dual-use research initiatives. Although the activities engaged in by these countries are not prohibited by the BTWC, dual-use research by China included "identifying factors that enhance the virulence, toxicity, or antibiotic resistance of pathogens, including through the use of genetic engineering." Iran has failed to address or resolve issues regarding it's compliance with the BTWC, and, according to this report, is "conducting research involving BW-related pathogens and genetic engineering, and developing mechanisms that could be used to deliver biological agents". It is unclear whether Russia has made efforts to change inherited weapons programs from it's time as the Soviet Union, although it recognizes the offensive nature of those programs.

"Impossible? Think Twice!" says Escherichia coli

The process of simple manipulation of genes by Geneticists 40 years ago has gradually evolved into the exciting field of Science known as Synthetic Biology. Just recently, researchers at South San Francisco-based biotech company LS9 Inc. introduced a gene usually found in algea, which naturally produces hydrocarbon, into the genome of E.coli bacteria. Further manipulating its metabolism, the E.coli bacteria was designed to deliver "100 times more fuel than the algae did."

With the vast amount of opportunity that Synthetic Biology delivers, it can now easily be expected, to manipulate the genome of E.coli bacterium to produce a "diesel-like mixture of hydrocarbons" in the future. Does this mean mankind can slowly become less dependent on non-renewable resources like Oil? So far, with the potential of Synthetic Biology, it sure seems so.

Read the full article here.

**Raida

Presidential Panel Update

Two of the leading researchers in the field spoke out, yesterday, on their opinions on the potential for the industry of synthetic biology and how they felt that it should be regulated.

Both Craig Venter (J. Craig Venter Institute) and George Church (Harvard University professor) both believe that government regulation is necessary in order to maintain safety within synthetic biology as it continues to develop. President Obama ordered that a commission be put together to study if there was any need for regulation for the field and to determine the degree of danger the field presented to the public.

“If you have a speed limit but no one enforcing it, you’ll have people speeding. You need to proactively set up a radar system and surveil it.’’ Church said, in a statement encouraging preliminary action that would be preventative in nature. This mentality is similar to that of the medical field where "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". Allison Snow, a professor from Ohio State University, said that the environmental aspects would have to be monitored as well so accidental releases of toxins and bacteria could be minimized.

The panel was called for after the J. Craig Venter Institute announced that they had "created synthetic life". Yesterday was the first day of two that the panel will convene and discuss the merits and possible dangers of the field.

The article containing more information can be found here.

Chris

iGEM Calgary: Front Page News

The 40 mile County Commentator has published a brief story on iGEM Calgary that appeared on the front page of the latest issue. You can view it here.

Drew Endy's DNA factory up and running

A project discussed for many years by many scientists, including MIT researcher and facility director Drew Endy, BIOFAB has now been up and running for the last 6 months. The (B+) International Open Facility for Advancing Biotechnology (BIOFAB), the world's first DNA factory, aims to offer scientists and students certain well-characterized pieces of DNA that can be assembled in different ways to carry out various functions. A real-world offshoot from the undergraduate iGEM competition, the BIOFAB is currently carrying out the characterization and standardization necessary to turn past iGEM projects into a true, world-wide synthetic biology registry. Read the full Nature News article, or check out the BIOFAB home page.

Dave

Synthetic Biology Matters to the President!

On July 8-9, 2010 Drew Endy and several of his colleagues were invited to the White House to discuss the ethical considerations of synthetic biology. This meeting was more for updating the Obama administration to the development and advances in the field of synthetic biology. The meeting is in response to Craig Venter's current insertion of synthetic genitalia mycoplasma genome. There are videos documenting their discussion here, and an official letter written by Barack Obama to Dr. Amy Gutmann inquiring about the potential effects of synthetically created genome.

Barack Obama's letter about synthetic biology can be found here. (PDF)

This will be covered in more detail soon!

Jeremy

iGEM Team Helps Prevent Rogue Use of Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology is a constantly developing field. New things are popping up every day. Here's an example, published yesterday in Science Centric:

A team of students from ENSIMAG, an engineering school in Grenoble, France, and Virginia Tech is using bioinformatics to implement federal guidance on synthetic genomics. The students' work will help gene synthesis companies and their customers better detect the possible use of manufactured DNA as harmful agents for bioterrorism.

Kudos to the VT-ENSIMAG_Biosecurity team! We wish you the best of luck.

Read the full article here.


Patrick