synthetic biologyBRINGING ENGINEERING BACKINTO GENETIC ENGINEERING

Sachin Singh RawatSchool of Biotech, GGS IP University

Elements of Engineering we must bring to Biology

Standardization of parts

Ease of compilatio

n

Open sourcing

of informatio

nUser Interface

Democratization of technology

Citizen involvemen

t

An Optimistic Comparison

Networks

Computers

Operating systems

Modules

Logic gates

Transistors, diodes

Digital code

Error protection

Data compression

Tissue, cultures

Cells

Ribosomes

Pathways

Biochemical reactions

Proteins, genes

Nucleotides

DNA repair

Overlapping ORFs

Extending the comparison, we are trying to

Edit the source code

Copy source code into another program

Write entirely new code

Reboot

Develop new computers running on similar or new operating systems

Change the protein expressed

Standardize and copy genes into other organisms

Engineer completely new proteins

Reprogram cells

Create new life similar to what we know, and possibly alien-like too

Do-it-yourself Biology

Microsoft, Apple and HP were started in garages

Garage Biology: How ready are we?

DNA synthesis at $ 0.32 /bp

A computer virus is much less devastating than the one we biologists are familiar with

Smart-phones, Internet and digital learning

Develop “Glow-curd” by transfecting yeast DNA isolated from curd by GFP plasmid ordered over eBay

BioBricksDNA sequences of defined structure and function sharing a common interface, flanked by universal downstream and upstream sequences

Initiated by Tom Knight, Drew Endy, Chris Voigt at MIT

Parts, devices and systems

Parts encode basic functions like promoter, proteins etc

Devices are collections of parts that implement some user-defined function, for instance a riboregulator that produces a fluorescent protein on encountering a certain environmental signal

Systems perform high-level tasks which involve integration of multiple devices

Some from the iGEMBactoblood: A substitute for natural blood with properties of RBCs, without any blood group specificity

E. chromi: A microbe that gives out colour if a particular pathogen is present in water sample

Cell-to-cell communication system that allows propagation of a set of instructions coded onto a plasmid

Cancer specific RNAi mediated cell destruction

A biological system that senses glucose concentration and releases insulin in response

Arsenic bio-detector

Harvesting cellulose and light to power butanol biosynthesis

Genome Compiler

Junkomics: Making proteins from non-coding DNA

Develop non-coding region into a BioBrick

Add a promoter and other transcription machinery

Couple with a module to secret this protein on the cell surface

Insert as a plasmid in a minimal organism

Obtain the protein produced and check for any therapeutic or industrial use

Wildest SynBio ScenariosA microbe which ingested with water comes out in faeces, coloured according to your gut bacteria

Microbes which live only to produce power/proteins of interest

A virus that corrects network perturbations in diseases

A seed that grows into a house

Microbe(s) which help us colonize Mars

Thank You