Synthetic Biology and iGEM: Techniques, Development and Safety Concerns
Synthetic Biology and iGEM: Techniques, Development and Safety Concerns

Author: Kang Ning

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-06-19

Total Pages: 119

ISBN-13: 981992460X

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This book focuses on biological engineering techniques, multi-omics big-data integration, and data-mining techniques, as well as cutting-edge researches in principles and applications of several synthetic biology applications. Synthetic biology is a new research area, while it has been rooted from the long-established area including biological engineering, metabolite engineering, and systems biology. This book will discuss the following aspects: (1) introduction to synthetic biology and iGEM, especially focusing on the systematic design, rational engineering, and sustainability of design in the omics ages; (2) synthetic biology–related multi-omics data integration and data mining techniques; (3) the technical issues, development issues, and safety issues of synthetic biology; (4) data resources, web services, and visualizations for synthetic biology; and (5) advancement in concrete research on synthetic biology, with several case studies shown. Devised as a book on synthetic biology research and education in the omics age, this book has put focuses on systematic design, rational engineering, and sustainability of design for synthetic biology, which will explain in detail and with supportive examples the “What,” “Why,” and “How” of the topic. It is an attempt to bridge the gap between synthetic biology’s research and education side, for best practice of synthetic biology and in-depth insights for the related questions.

Dual Use Research of Concern in the Life Sciences
Dual Use Research of Concern in the Life Sciences

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2017-10-01

Total Pages: 115

ISBN-13: 0309458889

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The potential misuse of advances in life sciences research is raising concerns about national security threats. Dual Use Research of Concern in the Life Sciences: Current Issues and Controversies examines the U.S. strategy for reducing biosecurity risks in life sciences research and considers mechanisms that would allow researchers to manage the dissemination of the results of research while mitigating the potential for harm to national security.

Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology
Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2019-01-05

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 0309465184

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Scientific advances over the past several decades have accelerated the ability to engineer existing organisms and to potentially create novel ones not found in nature. Synthetic biology, which collectively refers to concepts, approaches, and tools that enable the modification or creation of biological organisms, is being pursued overwhelmingly for beneficial purposes ranging from reducing the burden of disease to improving agricultural yields to remediating pollution. Although the contributions synthetic biology can make in these and other areas hold great promise, it is also possible to imagine malicious uses that could threaten U.S. citizens and military personnel. Making informed decisions about how to address such concerns requires a realistic assessment of the capabilities that could be misused. Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology explores and envisions potential misuses of synthetic biology. This report develops a framework to guide an assessment of the security concerns related to advances in synthetic biology, assesses the levels of concern warranted for such advances, and identifies options that could help mitigate those concerns.

Positioning Synthetic Biology to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century
Positioning Synthetic Biology to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2013-08-05

Total Pages: 81

ISBN-13: 0309225868

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Synthetic biology-unlike any research discipline that precedes it-has the potential to bypass the less predictable process of evolution to usher in a new and dynamic way of working with living systems. Ultimately, synthetic biologists hope to design and build engineered biological systems with capabilities that do not exist in natural systems-capabilities that may ultimately be used for applications in manufacturing, food production, and global health. Importantly, synthetic biology represents an area of science and engineering that raises technical, ethical, regulatory, security, biosafety, intellectual property, and other issues that will be resolved differently in different parts of the world. As a better understanding of the global synthetic biology landscape could lead to tremendous benefits, six academies-the United Kingdom's Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering, the United States' National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, and the Chinese Academy of Science and Chinese Academy of Engineering-organized a series of international symposia on the scientific, technical, and policy issues associated with synthetic biology. Positioning Synthetic Biology to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century summarizes the symposia proceedings.

Synthetic Biology: A Lab Manual
Synthetic Biology: A Lab Manual

Author: Forster Anthony C

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2014-04-16

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 9814579564

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Synthetic Biology: A Lab Manual is the first manual for laboratory work in the new and rapidly expanding field of synthetic biology. Aimed at non-specialists, it details protocols central to synthetic biology in both education and research. In addition, it provides all the information that teachers and students from high schools and tertiary institutions need for a colorful lab course in bacterial synthetic biology using chromoproteins and designer antisense RNAs. As a bonus, practical material is provided for students of the annual international Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition. The manual is based upon a highly successful course at Sweden's Uppsala University and is coauthored by one of the pioneers of synthetic biology and two bioengineering postgraduate students.An inspiring foreword is written by another pioneer in the field, Harvard's George Church: “Synthetic biology is to early recombinant DNA as a genome is to a gene. Is there anything that SynBio will not impact? There was no doubt that the field of SynBio needed ‘A Lab Manual’ such as the one that you now hold in your hands.”

The Science and Applications of Synthetic and Systems Biology
The Science and Applications of Synthetic and Systems Biology

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2011-12-30

Total Pages: 570

ISBN-13: 0309219396

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Many potential applications of synthetic and systems biology are relevant to the challenges associated with the detection, surveillance, and responses to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. On March 14 and 15, 2011, the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) Forum on Microbial Threats convened a public workshop in Washington, DC, to explore the current state of the science of synthetic biology, including its dependency on systems biology; discussed the different approaches that scientists are taking to engineer, or reengineer, biological systems; and discussed how the tools and approaches of synthetic and systems biology were being applied to mitigate the risks associated with emerging infectious diseases. The Science and Applications of Synthetic and Systems Biology is organized into sections as a topic-by-topic distillation of the presentations and discussions that took place at the workshop. Its purpose is to present information from relevant experience, to delineate a range of pivotal issues and their respective challenges, and to offer differing perspectives on the topic as discussed and described by the workshop participants. This report also includes a collection of individually authored papers and commentary.

Synthetic Biology 2020: Frontiers in Risk Analysis and Governance
Synthetic Biology 2020: Frontiers in Risk Analysis and Governance

Author: Benjamin D. Trump

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2019-11-28

Total Pages: 421

ISBN-13: 3030272648

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Synthetic biology offers powerful remedies for some of the world’s most intractable problems, but these solutions are clouded by uncertainty and risk that few strategies are available to address. The incentives for continued development of this emerging technology are prodigious and obvious, and the public deserves assurances that all potential downsides are duly considered and minimized accordingly. Incorporating social science analysis within the innovation process may impose constraints, but its simultaneous support in making the end products more acceptable to society at large should be considered a worthy trade-off. Contributing authors in this volume represent diverse perspectives related to synthetic biology’s social sciences, and reflect on different areas of risk analysis and governance that have developed for the field. Such perspectives include leading scholarly discussion pertaining to risk assessment, governance, ethics, and communication. The chapters of this volume note that while the first twenty years of synthetic biology development have focused strongly on technological innovation and product development, the next twenty should emphasize the synergy between developers, policymakers, and publics to generate the most beneficial, well governed, and transparent technologies and products possible. Many chapters in this volume provide new data and approaches that demonstrate the feasibility for multi-stakeholder efforts involving policymakers, regulators, industrial developers, workers, experts, and societal representatives to share responsibilities in the production of effective and acceptable governance in the face of uncertain risk probabilities. A full consideration of such perspectives may prevent a world of draconian regulations based on an insufficient or incomplete understanding of the science that underpins synthetic biology, as well as any hesitancy or fear by the public to adopt its eventual products.

Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods
Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2004-07-08

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 0309166152

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Assists policymakers in evaluating the appropriate scientific methods for detecting unintended changes in food and assessing the potential for adverse health effects from genetically modified products. In this book, the committee recommended that greater scrutiny should be given to foods containing new compounds or unusual amounts of naturally occurring substances, regardless of the method used to create them. The book offers a framework to guide federal agencies in selecting the route of safety assessment. It identifies and recommends several pre- and post-market approaches to guide the assessment of unintended compositional changes that could result from genetically modified foods and research avenues to fill the knowledge gaps.

Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology
Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2017-07-28

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 0309452058

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Between 1973 and 2016, the ways to manipulate DNA to endow new characteristics in an organism (that is, biotechnology) have advanced, enabling the development of products that were not previously possible. What will the likely future products of biotechnology be over the next 5â€"10 years? What scientific capabilities, tools, and/or expertise may be needed by the regulatory agencies to ensure they make efficient and sound evaluations of the likely future products of biotechnology? Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology analyzes the future landscape of biotechnology products and seeks to inform forthcoming policy making. This report identifies potential new risks and frameworks for risk assessment and areas in which the risks or lack of risks relating to the products of biotechnology are well understood.

Ethical and Philosophical Consideration of the Dual-Use Dilemma in the Biological Sciences
Ethical and Philosophical Consideration of the Dual-Use Dilemma in the Biological Sciences

Author: Seumas Miller

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2008-07-30

Total Pages: 79

ISBN-13: 1402083122

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What Is the Dual-Use Dilemma? The so-called “dual-use dilemma” arises in the context of research in the biological and other sciences as a consequence of the fact that one and the same piece of sci- tific research sometimes has the potential to be used for harm as well as for good. A dual-use dilemma is an ethical dilemma, and an ethical dilemma for the researcher (and for those who have the power or authority to assist or impede the researcher’s work, e. g. , governments). It is an ethical dilemma since it is about promoting good in the context of the potential for also causing harm, e. g. , the p- motion of health in the context of providing the wherewithal for the killing of in- cents. It is an ethical dilemma for the researcher not because he or she is aiming at anything other than a good outcome; typically, the researcher intends no harm, but only good. Rather, the dilemma arises for the researcher because of the potential actions of others. Malevolent non-researchers might steal dangerous biological agents produced by the researcher; alternatively, other researchers—or at least their governments or leadership—might use the results of the original researcher’s work for malevolent purposes. The malevolent purposes in question include bioterrorism, biowarfare and blackmail for financial gain.