Back to the Basics to Break Boundaries

Armed with cutting-edge technologies, scientists find innovative ways to better use biological systems.

Meenakshi Prabhune headshot
| 3 min read
Rainbow colored DNA strand

Applying engineering principles in biology ushered in an era of synthesis biology.

© istock.com, ktsimage

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
3:00
Share

I distinctly remember the day I first learned about using plasmids to manipulate bacteria during my undergraduate studies in microbiology. The experiment was quite simple, but at the time, I was mesmerized by the ingenuity of using plasmids to confer antibiotic resistance to bacteria. One could then screen for the plasmid-bearing surviving microbes that formed colonies on an antibiotic-infused agar plate.

Science can be fun, and at times funny. While often the rate of scientific progress feels gradual, if not glacial, on rare occasions, it appears to advance like an avalanche. One such moment for me occurred when I first attended a synthetic biology conference. Conceptually, scientists were still tinkering with microbes. But with improved technology at their disposal, synthetic biologists had moved on to elaborate tricks that enabled them to insert sophisticated genetic circuits and coax the production of complex materials from living systems.

The presentations were a testimony to the numerous applications that research in the field had spawned. Of the several industries that benefited from the rising star of this engineering-meets-biology area, the biomaterials industry took the lion’s share. Within a span of just a few years after idea conception, mycelium-produced platforms decorated conference venues, bacteria-spewed silk protein-derived garments adorned a mannequin, and yeast-brewed face creams offered younger looking skin. (For those curious about how synthetic biology inspired sustainable textiles and cosmetics, dive into the feature piece in this issue.)

The hallmark of synthetic biology is pushing the boundaries of biology to create new systems; these extend beyond hollowing out microbes and filling them with new genetic instructions to do our bidding. Take for example the old-enzyme-new-tricks success story of enzymatic DNA synthesis described in detail in this issue’s methods piece. It enables synthesis of long oligonucleotides for use in gene therapies and other applications.

The quietest yet perhaps the most impressive advance spurred by this field is supplementing the understanding of basic cellular biology. While some researchers are trying a bottom-up approach to test the minimum number of components required to build a self-dividing cell, others are flash freezing cells on chips to use them as biosensors on rehydration. This melting pot of ideas and knowledge from different disciplines has yielded impressive innovations, a prime example being biobots. In the foundations piece in this issue, read the origin story of xenobots created from frog cells by roboticists and stem cell biologists.

Synthetic biology has come a long way, but expectations remain high. With the recent advancements in artificial intelligence tools that enable protein design, researchers hope to ride a new wave of innovations soon. We are in the era of genesis of new materials, where synthetic biology is turning into synthesis biology.

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • Meenakshi Prabhune headshot

    Meenakshi Prabhune, PhD

    Meenakshi is the Editor-in-Chief at The Scientist. Her diverse science communication experience includes journalism, podcasting, and corporate content strategy. Meenakshi earned her PhD in biophysics from the University of Goettingen, Germany.

Published In

The Scientist's 2024 summer issue cover
Summer 2024

Synthetic Biology is in Fashion

Scientists are pulling on the protein threads that bind textiles and cosmetics together.

Share
You might also be interested in...
Loading Next Article...
You might also be interested in...
Loading Next Article...
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

sartorius logo
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo

Products

Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

Thermo Fisher Logo
An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with lipid nanoparticles

Thermo Fisher Logo
Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide

Explore a Concise Guide to Optimizing Viral Transduction

A Visual Guide to Lentiviral Gene Delivery

Takara Bio