3. What is Synthetic
Biology?
• Synthetic biology is that branch of research and
development that applies rational design principles to
produce novel biological systems, organisms, or
components de novo, or that contributes in a direct and
significant way to their production through the novel
development of materials, technologies or processes.
• It is an emerging discipline stemming from advances in
genetic engineering
4. Milestones
2010
Synchronized bacterial
oscillators
Synthetic mycoplasma
genome
2011
Phage-based continuous
evolution
Bacterial growth in
stripe patterns
2012
DNA used for data
storage
Refactored nitrogen
fixation cluster
Whole cell simulation of
a mycoplasma
2013
Biosynthetic production
of astemisinin
Genomically recorded
E.coli
2014
Bacteria that sense and
record in the gut
Cell-free paper-based
sensors and logic
E.coli engineered with 6
bases of DNA, Synthesis
of a yeast chromosome
2015
E.coli dependent on
synthetic amino acid
Biosynthesis of opioids
from yeast
2016
In vivo event recorders,
Synthesis of a reduced
mycoplasma genome
Cello CAD for E.coli logic
gates
2017
Synthesis of 5 more
yeast chromosomes
CRISPR-based rapid
diagnosis
2018
CAR-T cells with logic
control, Yeast with
synthetically fused
chromosomes
Self-organizing
multicellular structures
2019
Full synthesis of E.coli
genome Carbon fixation
in engineered E.coli
Gene circuits with
designed proteins,
Synthetic production of
cannabinoids
7. Ethical Concerns
• Concerns about playing “God”
• May result in the creation of entities which fall
somewhere between living things and machines
• May create a reductionist conception of life and its
value
• Misuse—states or terrorist groups without access
to wild-type viruses might acquire the ability to
create human pathogens for use in biological
weapons
10. References
• A.M. Calladine, R. ter Meulen, Synthetic Biology, Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics (Second Edition), Academic Press, 2012, Pages 281-
288, ISBN 9780123739322, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-373932-2.00429-4.
• Srinivasan Ganesh Kumar, Ashok Ganesan, Shashi Kumar, Chapter 21 - Synthetic biology for smart drug biosynthesis and delivery, New
Frontiers and Applications of Synthetic Biology, Academic Press, 2022, Pages 349-360, ISBN 9780128244692,
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-824469-2.00005-1
• Douglas T, Savulescu J. Synthetic biology and the ethics of knowledge. J Med Ethics. 2010 Nov;36(11):687-93. doi:
10.1136/jme.2010.038232. Epub 2010 Oct 8. PMID: 20935316; PMCID: PMC3045879.
• Kolisis N, Kolisis F. Synthetic Biology: Old and New Dilemmas-The Case of Artificial Life. BioTech (Basel). 2021 Jul 20;10(3):16. doi:
10.3390/biotech10030016. PMID: 35822770; PMCID: PMC9245477.
• Meng, F., Ellis, T. The second decade of synthetic biology: 2010–2020. Nat Commun 11, 5174 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-
020-19092-2
• Boldt, Joachim, 'Creating Life: Synthetic Biology and Ethics', in Gregory E. Kaebnick, and Thomas H. Murray (eds), Synthetic Biology and
Morality: Artificial Life and the Bounds of Nature (Cambridge, MA, 2013; online edn, MIT Press Scholarship Online, 23 Jan. 2014),
https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262019392.003.0003