Electricity from a Bucket of Dirt

Dennis Evans — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:08:36 -0700

Description

Harvard biology professor Peter Girguis and his team have created a low-cost power generator for families in Tanzania.

Amateur, DIY, and citizen science

Source

http://discovermagazine.com/2008/oct/08-10-everyday-technologies-that-can-change-the-world

Promising Applications of Synthetic Biology

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 11:10:30 -0700

Description

Stretching the realm of possibilities, biological physicists and engineers are treating cells as tools that can be mechanically reworked for environmental and biomedical purposes. Expect new applications in the next 10 to 20 years but also intense debate about unintended consequences.

In the 1970s, with knowledge of genetics growing rapidly, the ability to engineer life was conceived. Three decades later the possibilities for coaxing and crafting microbes to work for us have only expanded, and scientists are making practical headway in the emerging multidisciplinary field of synthetic biology, developing novel biological functions and systems. In this world, biology is a technology, a part, a tool, a machine, a factory, and research topics include genetic network design, biomimetics, energy sources, microfluidics, molecular machines, and biomaterials. In turn, this research has the potential to become the basis for an improved understanding of biology, as it involves creating controlled systems in which biological principles can be tested. Scientists have suggested that the field holds great potential for addressing problems in biomedicine, environmental remediation, and energy supply.

The concept that has shown the greatest early promise is fashioning bacteria into 'biofactories' to produce specific chemicals or biological compounds. Of great significance to global public health, Jay Keasling of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has engineered a bacteria to produce artemisinin, a compound used to treat malaria. Artemisinin is found naturally in the wormwood plant but is costly to chemically synthesise or harvest. The same methods could theoretically be used to produce cancer drugs, such as Taxol, that are currently expensive.

Others are working on the construction of standardized sequences of DNA, 'biobricks' that could be inserted to produce predictable effects, or a cell that signals how many times it has divided. These projects will help the field develop new tools and methods in the next 3 to 10 years and will set the stage for future applications. New technologies can be expected in the next 10 to 20 years.

Given the debate in the UK regarding genetically modified organisms, this research, that appears to take GM to the next level, has the potential to reignite similar debates and concerns."

This will be enabled by:

"Decreasing cost of DNA sequencing and synthesis
New funding from private foundations, state and federal governments, and private industry
New voluntary safeguards and government regulations addressing public concerns about the new and uncertain research and applications"

Early indicators include:

"Creation in 2000 by Michael Elowitz and Stanislas Leibler, biological physicists, of a genetic circuit that produced a fluorescent protein
Successful completion in 2002 by Eckard Wimmer of a 3-year effort to create a polio virus from scratch
Production in 2004 by Jay Keasling at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of an antimalaria drug using engineered bacteria
Hosting by MIT in June 2004 of the first conference on synthetic biology
Announcement in December 2004 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation of a $42.5 million grant for research and development in synthetic biology
Opening in 2005 of the Berkeley Center for Synthetic Biology by the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research
Listing in MIT's Technology Review in 2005 of 'bacterial factories' as one of the top 10 emerging technologies"

What to watch:

"Pharmaceutical industry leaders buy up small synthetic biology companies.
Global epidemics such as malaria are eradicated using biologics produced from bacteria.
Public debate grows about the uncertainties and unintended consequences of engineered organisms as new technologies are developed and introduced, and public concern flares up after the first 'biohacker' strike.

Signals

Longest Piece of Synthetic DNA Yet: Scientific American

biological physics

Electricity from a Bucket of Dirt

Description

Source

Promising Applications of Synthetic Biology

Description

Signals