As the pioneering field of synthetic biology nears its first decade since its conception, scientists are making enormous advancements that would have previously been deemed impossible by human standards. The impressive thing is, synthetic biology is producing superhuman effects that we can harness into new forms of productivity and innovation. To name a few, this new biological network has the potential to create breakthroughs in design, manufacturing, human health, and the environment (Alberts). Many bioethicists and scientists raise the question that making life from scratch may produce a fair amount of uninvited consequences. However, synthetic biology is the key to introducing better design methodologies, sustaining our world with recyclable matter, curing disease, and enriching the overall welfare and success of today’s society.
Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary science that expands biological foundations to the broader scope of engineering technology. Using artificial nucleotides, the genetic code is edited where revolutionary living material is produced. In attempt to sustain our environment, computational design, additive technology, materials engineering, and synthetic biology have manipulated organisms to take on a new, and much improved, structure. Synthetic biologists aim to eliminate the assembly line that fosters the part-by-part creation of a product. Instead, they seek to promote more elasticity and continuity in the once limited world of manufacturing by creating (literally) seamless products with the help of genetic alterations and 3-D printing. With this intersection at technology and biology, structures like buildings, clothing, and furniture have the chance to be created by organisms taken from nature itself.. A popular material used in synthetic biological design is chitin, a semitransparent substance found in many natural places around the world, especially in the exoskeletons of aquatic organisms, like shrimp. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a skin-like fabric called chitosan paste, which contains multiple properties, like variations in density. It is flexible and fluid, yet has the capacity to mold itself to the contours of the body. Products made with these newly synthesized cells, like helmets, dresses, and capes, (all showcased at the Paris Fashion Show), are smarter than the average cotton-based clothing. They mimic the living biological makeup of our tissues, tendons, and ligaments, using twenty-micron high-resolution cells (Oxman). Because these products are one-hundred percent recyclable, we may already have the solution to sustaining our planet. Soon, manufacturing with non-degradable plastics will be a thing of the past.
Besides design and industry, synthetic biology provides a multitude of health benefits to our society’s future. Building new organisms from those that are nature-made can create new virus resistance, an extreme triumph for medicine. An important milestone has already happened for synthetic biology, which was the creation of artemisinin. A drug designed to combat malaria, a disease that kills one-million people and infects three-hundred-million to five-hundred-million people yearly, is on its way to saving lives. Also, scientists are designing microbes and bacteria that will detect and destroy tumors while leaving healthy tissue alone (unlike chemotherapy) and subsequently self destruct. Placed on the microbiome, our permanent bacterial ecosystem that resides in and on the body, scientists discuss introducing artificially-made bacteria that automatically destroy cancer cells (Keasling). People in the third world will be healthier than ever with these new medicinal benefits coming to the forefront of every scientist’s and health provider’s mind. It is fairly clear that synthetic biology that cures the sick from essentially, artificial bacteria is the road to a better tomorrow.
Personalized medicine is another cutting edge approach that has the potential to use synthetic biology to improve the lives of millions of people. A research group at Northwestern University has programmed immune cells to build customized cancer therapies, ones that genetically match to every patient’s unique needs. The entire genome is able to be replicated and analyzed using biotechnology that combines with engineering principles (Breslin). Since every individual has a unique genetic code, it makes perfect sense that their medicine would complement it. What’s more is that it wouldn’t be surprising if these revolutionary medical advancements using synthetic biology will prevent the population from succumbing to future mass outbreaks of flus, the recent Ebola virus, or worse, a plague.
As young as the field is, the business world welcomes synthetic biology with open arms, and likewise, open wallets. The organization and annual science competition that claims synthetic biology as its brainchild, the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM), was founded beside partners like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Monsanto, the National Science Foundation, and Autodesk. The global market comprised of advancements, like pharmaceuticals, diagnostic tools, chemicals, and biofuels, made by synthetic biology, is projected to grow to sixteen-billion dollars in the next four years (Garthwaite). If there was not a need for synthetic biology, this dramatic and exciting economic boom would not exist. Clearly, synthetic biology has the capability to revolutionize both scientific practices and the world economy.
With all of these benefits, it would be unnatural to say there are no risks, skeptics, and drawbacks to synthetic biology. Indeed, whether the foundations it was constructed from are ethical is a seemingly infinite struggle for researchers and scientists alike. Eyebrows raise especially to the FBI and Homeland Security’s presence at MIT’s scientific conference on the controversial topic. As converting biology to data and data to biology becomes cheaper and easier to do, it raises the inevitable question: what are the consequence of this behavior? Yes, it is exciting to see scientists radically alter DNA with two new nucleotides, X and Y, kicking the original complex of G, A, T, C, to the sidelines, but people want to know where the line is drawn, and who is going to draw it. Risk factors are also prevalent in determining the morality to synthetic biology, as skeptics from the science community claim it will harbor harder-to-kill pests and pathogens that will inevitably decrease genetic diversity within a population of organisms. Some even fear that a self-replicating species with synthetic genomes will try to reproduce with natural species; the potential for newly-made creatures that are beyond the control of any organization or research university makes these scientific pioneers concerned that they will be held accountable for such genetic destruction (Markoff). Overall, there is an overwhelming number of things that could go wrong with synthetic biology, especially its after effects. However, more research and prototypes must ensue for there to be a real argument that denounces synthetic biology as more harmful than helpful.
An interesting approach to understanding the true societal nature of synthetic biology is, ironically, through theologians. Researchers in the synbio field have been accused of playing the role of God, skeptics are going so far as to call them the new “Frankenstein's” of the twenty-first century. Surprisingly, recent findings suggest that liberal theologians deny the accusation that synthetic biologists are acting too much like God, and not enough like scientists. In fact, this argument is largely supported by secular organizations. It’s curious that it is the non-religious groups who claim synthetic biologists shouldn’t make life out of data sets because it puts science at the holy altar instead of Christ. One reason why synthetic biology gives so many a sense of uneasiness and worry is the belief that non-synthesized life will lose its meaning and value (Van den Belt). Humans are used to looking down upon lower species on the food chain-- with synthetic biology, the prospect of new and more intelligent life is getting closer every day. People are afraid that the new wave of modern advancements and technology that automatically comes with synthetic biology will leave them (and their average genetic code) behind. However, this is not the mindset the human population needs if it wants to succeed as both a society and ecosystem. With all of the environmental destruction that humans cause, like pollution and climate change, the planet is slowly, but surely, losing steam. Synthetic biology can change that by making sustainable energy.
Overall, the up-and-coming interdisciplinary science of synthetic biology promises great achievements for our planet's future. From converting atmospheric nitrogen to a more useful form, which increases agricultural yields, to newly imagined functions like an odorless E. coli cell that produces a lemony, edible “wonder protein” which contains essential amino acids, synthetic biology fosters creativity and production (Garthwaite). Not only could we see skyscrapers made of renewable, living, material, but diseases in which millions suffer from, like cancer and malaria, could be cured altogether. And while skeptics and bioethicists raise controversial yet necessary questions that concern the ultimate motives of synthetic biologists, it is clear that their intentions and goals are solely based on innovation and growth.
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