Synthetic Biology. IICA First Seminar on SynBio for Biotechnology Decision Makers March 16-17, Fan-Li Chou. Foreign Agricultural Service

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1 Synthetic Biology IICA First Seminar on SynBio for Biotechnology Decision Makers March 16-17, 2016 Fan-Li Chou U.S. Department of Agriculture

2 Outline What is synthetic biology? Who cares? Why do we care? And why now?

3 What is Synthetic Biology? is the application of science, technology and engineering to facilitate and accelerate the design, manufacture and/or modification of genetic materials in living organisms to alter living or nonliving materials (European Commission 2014). Field of research that combines elements of biology, engineering, genetics, chemistry, and computer science. ) the design and construction of new biological parts, devices, and systems, and (ii) the redesign of existing, natural biological systems for useful purposes.2 aims to design and engineer biologically based parts, novel devices And systems as well as redesigning existing, natural biological systems (UK Royal Academy)

4 What is Synthetic Biology? -a further development and new dimension of modern biotechnology that combines science, technology and engineering to facilitate and accelerate the understanding, design redesign, manufacture and/or modification of genetic materials, living organism, And biological systems. AHTEG - set of new tools and techniques which mix engineering and biology and support the development of new functions and applications. - Continuum of biological engineering tools and techniques leading to progressively advanced biotechnology products.

5 Looking back. Looking forward Pre-genomic period Not to scale! COP10 X13 CRISPR Cas9 Commercial pdt of anti-malarial artemisinin in engineered yeast Development of molecular clone techniques PCR, rdna 1978 restriction enzyme Nobel Prize characterization of cellular regulatory circuits - Lac operon in E.coli First use of the term synthetic biology First int l syn bio conference at MIT Automatic DNA sequencing, computational tools for analysis Sources: - Collins, J. J. et al A brief history of synthetic biology. Nature Review 12, Wikipedia

6 Who Cares? Scientists Companies Policy makers Regulators Public Why do we care? Knowledge acquisition Basic understanding of biological systems Economic development Product development What s in the pipeline? Time horizons Protection goals Environmental safety Human health safety

7 1976 single strand RNA bacteria 1977 DNA Phage 1995 H. influenza S. cerevisiae (yeast, multi chromosome) 1998 C. elegans 2000 Arabidopsis (first plant) Drosophia melanogaster 2001 human (13 years, $3 billion USD) 2014 Neanderthal (from a finger bone)

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10 The moment is ripe accuracy, speed, cost Low cost for high computational power Low cost of DNA sequencing and synthesis Expanding knowledge base of biological functions Improved molecular biology tools Gene-editing Synthesis of longer pieces of DNA

11 Regulatory oversight Getting it right Freedom to operate Innovation Why do we regulate? Environmental safety Human health safety Public confidence Economic Development Create jobs Betterment of Society What is innovation? Discovery/Invention innovation

12 Invention Innovation Enabling Environment - Investment in research and development - Investment in education - informed public; able work force - Rewards risk taking - Regulatory frameworks should be - Transparent, - Predictable - Flexible - Responsive

13 Concluding thoughts Definitions Is there a one size fit all? Fit for purpose? Can it stand the test of time remain relevant? Policy discussions What are the wide range of applications that may be impacted? Concrete examples Context national policy? Within the scope of the Convention on Biological Diversity?

14 For further study Nature Reviews, Volume 12, March A brief history of synthetic biology file:///d:/syn%20bio/syn%20bio%20history.pdf Wilson Center Synthetic Biology Project U.S. National Academy of Science European SynBioSafe

15 THANK YOU!