Synthetic Biology
Definition of Syn bio
Definition from Synthetic Biology: Tools and Applications (2013) by Zhao Huimin "Synthetic biology is the design, construction, and characterization of improved or novel biological systems using engineering design principles"
Definition from Synthetic Biology: Industrial and Environmental Applications (2012) by Markus Schmidt: "Synthetic biology is the design and construction of biological devices and systems for useful purposes."
Definition from Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC): Synthetic biology is the design and construction of new biological entities such as enzymes, genetic circuits, and cells or the redesign of existing biological systems.
Definition from ERAsynbio (EU's synthetic biology network): Synthetic Biology is the engineering of biology: the deliberate (re)design and construction of novel biological and biologically based systems to perform new functions for useful purposes, which draws on principles elucidated from biology and engineering.
- Polish geneticist said in 1974 Wacoaw Syzbalski: "Up to now we are working on the descriptive phase of molecular biology… but the real challenge will start when we enter the synthetic biology phase of research in our field. We will then devise new control elements and add these new modules to the existing genomes or build up wholly new genomes…. a field with unlimited expansion potential and hardly any limitations to building 'new better control circuits' and finally other' synthetic' organisms, like a 'new better mouse'.
- syn bio is sometimes confused with systems biology or metabolic engineering. the difference is that system biology forces more on the characterisation of complex interactions within biological systems using a more holistic perspective, so sys bio and syn bio are like two sides of the same code. metabolic engineering focuses on engineering of cellular metabolism to product a certain substance using recombinant dna tech. however metabollic engineering is limited to singe cells and to maximise the formation of specific product. the difference between that and synbio is that it deals with a biological system which could be anything from a genome, a cell, a tissue, and an ecosystem. synthetic biologists also address broader issues - and are not limited to recombinant dna technology.
- key tools for synbio include dna synthesis, construction of large size dna molecules, and bio-orthogonal systems such as the introduction of unnatural amino acids into proteins
