Crash Course in Synthetic Biology

Think of a basic cell. That microscopic organism is keeping you alive. It carries the information that has programmed you into you.
Under the eyes of different scientists a cell’s basic design is highly different.
Let’s think of bacterium for example, like yeast or E.Coli.
Biologist would view bacterium as a collection of parts and systems connected through a specific plan that allows better understanding.
Computational engineers would view the same bacteria as a device with the ability to translate inputted data into outputs.
Chemical engineers would analyze it as a sort of “chemical factory”. The different “pipes” and chemical transformations in this bacterium are necessary to complete a given task.
By adopting the perspectives of various innovators we are given a rough idea of how biological systems function and later improved through synthetic biology.
Exaptation
In molecular biology, the study of the biological activity between biomolecules,
As biologist venture deeper into their research, they eventually come across an inexplicable complexity that results from evolution. They work to observe a complex phenomenon and work to determine how it mechanically works.
To begin to decipher the meaning behind these inexplicable functions, biologist return to evolution and its impacts on that organism. Resulting from evolution are the functions and materials that have been picked up over generations that are useful to an organism. Therefore, these functions and materials are selected for the next phase of the survival process.
Generations of evolution enable exaptation: one function that is eventually used for a different purpose.
Synthetic biology then exists to make sense of the existing biological systems that enable evolutions to rebuild them and help them artificially carry out exaptation in a short period of time. This approach towards biology is from a logical point of view rather than the evolutionary perspective used in molecular biology.
In molecular biology, the central dogma is the process that outlines the instructions that convert DNA into actual functions in the cell. In synthetic biology, the central tenet, otherwise known as the abstraction hierarchy, serves that same purpose.
The study of study of synthetic biology works to create new artificial functions in biological systems and re-engineer existing systems to broaden that cell’s abilities. Part of this new reality has come into the world thanks to digital advancements.
The implementation of technology in biological systems allows for the use of computer code to develop devices, circuits, and modules that can be used in complex systems and networks to create an entire organism with a given function.
Built similar to computers, cells can sense their surroundings, process the information, (possibly storing it in the memory) and develop a reaction to the sensory input.
Electrical Circuit v. Biological Systems
In an electrical circuit, components are rewired to attain different functions. Then, to develop new levels of complexity the same transistor can be duplicated and rewired.
On a more complex level, biological circuits develop parts that interact with each other through chemicals rather than physical circuital wiring. To develop new complexities specified chemical wiring and the development of new devices are needed.
Doesn’t copying a transistor and rewiring its connections sound easier?
Biosensors
Biosensors are analytical devices, that measure the concentration of chemical components. Biological materials (enzymes, antibodies, cells, nucleic acids) are used to interact with said chemical components, also called analytes.
Their interaction creates a chemical of physical change that is detected by a transducer, and later converted into an electrical signal. The electrical current is then converted and displayed as the analytes concentration present in whatever substance the biosensors were analyzing.

Sensors in synthetic biology commonly respond to chemicals or lights input. Cells that are built respond to these set inputs, giving the synthetic biologists the power to turn a gene’s expression on or off.
Platforms of Computing
Digital — signals (voltage and chemical concentration) are taken and divided into 0s and 1s that give you a limited programming language
Analog — signals aren’t divided into computer code, but rather computed using repetitive values.
These methods are then separated into memory and computing.
memory — output of computation is stored
computing — output calculates a specific function
Areas of Implementation
Evolution - developing ways to prevent cells from developing in ways that evolve away from specified functions
Bio Computations - designing circuits that enable the computation of systems within the organism
Therapeutics - using cell programs that carry out cell/gene therapies that respond to the environment
Metabolic Engineering - optimizing a material made in a cell by sensing metabolites
Biophysics - building bio circuits to better understand how they work
While this is only a basic outline of the wonders of synthetic biology, we see it has the ability to open new innovational doors in the world of science. The use of programming in cell development will play a pivotal role in the evolution of impacted species.
The possibilities in this field are truly endless. With these possible opportunities comes the regulation of its use and distribution. Questions of its ethically often arise. Will discover is very important, we need to continue to question our actions and intensions.
Thanks for reading! If you would like to talk more about this please shoot me an email 2004alejandramendez@gmail.com, or contact me on linkedin.
P.S. Have a wonderful day!
