Bioengineering: making life from scratch Melanie Swan MS Futures Group 415-505-4426 [email_address] http://www.melanieswan.com Slides: http://slideshare.net/LaBlogga/slideshows NIH, Bethesda MD September 25, 2008 Must build it to understand it

Synthetic biology Novel biological system

The new biology: virtuous feedback loop Model and simulate Investigate and experiment Build

Bio-SPICE Biological Simulation Program for Intra- and Inter-Cellular Evaluation http://biospice.org Model and simulate

Registry of Standard Biological Parts Build http://partsregistry.org

Parts Registry: select measurement device http://partsregistry.org

Parts Registry: obtain part sequence DNA Synthesizer http://partsregistry.org

The story of biocomputing Mapping genes to proteins -> life can be engineered Genes can be turned on and off -> gene as binary switch Systemic understanding of DNA -> genes as circuits Cell noisiness -> need for stable and predictable circuits

Mapping genes to proteins -> life can be engineered

Genes can be turned on and off -> gene as binary switch

Systemic understanding of DNA -> genes as circuits

Cell noisiness -> need for stable and predictable circuits

Repressilator schema “ Noisy” cells Michael Elowitz Stanislas Leibler Repressilator A synthetic oscillatory network of transcriptional regulators Michael B. Elowitz & Stanislas Leibler Nature. 2000 Jan 20;403(6767):335-38. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v403/n6767/full/403335a0.html

Construction of a genetic toggle switch in Escherichia coli Gardner TS, Cantor CR, Collins JJ Nature. 2000 Jan 20;403(6767):339-42. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10659857 Toggle switch induction threshold Toggle switch plasmid Gardner Cantor Collins Genetic toggle switch

Open wetware Drew Endy Parts Registry BioBricks Foundation iGEM competition http://openwetware.org/ http://bbf.openwetware.org/ http://www.igem.org/ http://partsregistry.org

Parts Registry

BioBricks Foundation

iGEM competition

Genome Craig Venter Synthetic life Synthetic life Fourth-generation biofuels Mycoplasma genitalium Bacterial image Genetic map

Synthetic life

Fourth-generation biofuels

Further applications of bioengineering Coli-roid microbial camera Landmine sensing plant: Arabidopsis thaliana Amorphous computing Cellular colonies Natural genetic engineering Ciliate

Summary Model and simulate Investigate and experiment Build

Thank you Melanie Swan MS Futures Group 415-505-4426 [email_address] http://www.melanieswan.com Slides: http://slideshare.net/LaBlogga/slideshows NIH, Bethesda MD September 25, 2008