Overloaded and stressed: whole-cell considerations for bacterial synthetic biology

Towards a whole-cell modeling approach for synthetic biology.

Despite rapid advances over the last decade, synthetic biology lacks the predictive tools needed to enable rational design. Unlike established engineering disciplines, the engineering of synthetic gene circuits still relies heavily on experimental trial-and-error, a time-consuming and inefficient process that slows down the biological design cycle. This reliance on experimental tuning is becaus...

Synthetic meets cell biology

Following a successful panel discussion at last years' American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting, the first minisymposium in Synthetic Cell Biology was held at this years' annual meeting in Denver. This is an exciting first for the society, and the attendance clearly supported the interest of cell biologists in applying the concepts of synthetic biology to the understanding and engineeri...

Ethical Debates on Synthetic Biology

Background: As an emerging interdisciplinary area of science with a multitude of potential facilities and applications, synthetic biology integrates different disciplines with one another ranging from basic science to engineering. This interdisciplinary branch therefore encompasses sciences that require specific development and ethical approaches. Materials and Methods: Science management princ...

Synthetic Biology. Latest developments, biosafety considerations and regulatory challenges

Mammalian synthetic biology for studying the cell

Synthetic biology is advancing the design of genetic devices that enable the study of cellular and molecular biology in mammalian cells. These genetic devices use diverse regulatory mechanisms to both examine cellular processes and achieve precise and dynamic control of cellular phenotype. Synthetic biology tools provide novel functionality to complement the examination of natural cell systems,...