Credit: Ivan Morozov (Virginia Bioinformatics Institute) / PLOS

SB7.0: Second Turning of a Wheel

Tiara Jones
Aug 8, 2017 · 5 min read

If you are interested in the latest research and applications in the field of synthetic biology, The International Meeting on Synthetic Biology is the conference to follow. The seventh meeting (SB7.0) held in June at the National University of Singapore emphasized the importance of diversity and partnership in the next revolution of synthetic biology. Embracing Singapore’s multicultural population, the synthetic biology community solicited the participation of all disciplines to explore innovations in this field. With over 40 different countries and 78 institutions represented, this conference provided insight into the challenges and opportunities posed by synthetic biology over the next decade. I will outline a few highlights from the conference that will shape future developments in the field.

Parameters for success

In the past decade, the scope of synthetic biology has expanded from simply understanding nature’s biological systems to designing and building novel biological systems. The field is moving at a fast pace and technical ideas are being adopted as solutions, but there are still hypotheses related to impact that require extensive research. Identifying the characteristics of successful synthetic biology solutions is the next challenge. How do we know if we have acquired a sustainable solution? How we do know if it is indeed better than the state-of-the-art? How do we articulate the opportunity cost? Experts in various disciplines are beginning to address these questions. Advancements in synthetic biology should provide social benefits, decrease costs, and avoid negative impacts on our ecosystem; achieving this vision requires the expertise of scientists, social scientists, economists, and engineers at a minimum. Several speakers presented on the potential impact and initial success of their research. For example, Christina Smolke, the renowned scientist who engineered the production of opioids in yeast, explained how her research could allow poppy farmers to transition their resources to other food products to feed the growing population and strengthen our economy. Bioproduction can also increase our access to medications once reliant on plant growth.

The conference presentations also provided some critiques on the current applications of synthetic biology research. Randall Kirk, the CEO of Intrexon, argued that current efforts to harvest corn for fuel are unsustainable and irresponsible. To Randall’s point, agriculture has expanded to support pharmaceutical and industrial markets and global drought has increased, hindering our ability to achieve and sustain global crop production. Biofuels have been around since the 20th century, but his argument called into question whether they actually represent a material improvement in energy production. Randall described this generation’s role as providing “tech support” to our environment; in other words, use technology, like synthetic biology, to optimize the ecosystem in order to support our needs while testing the effects of our changes. We should be willing to critically assess our technical ideas to develop the capacity to improve our environment and solve global issues. Fulfilling the role of tech support embodies one of the conference’s main themes, a partnership between “all people and the planet” with a vested interest to develop sustainable solutions.

Change in perception

Synthetic biology is a controversial topic mostly because it is not yet broadly understood. The conference organizers encouraged the audience to clearly and transparently explain the risks of their research to minimize unrealistic assumptions and promote informed decisions. Personally, I think the organizers should go one step further at future conferences and offer workshops on how to communicate technical research to those who are not familiar with the terminology in the field. The synthetic biology community will need to take a more proactive approach to minimize misconceptions on topics like CRISPR and genetically modified organisms. For instance, researchers should consider publishing articles that are intelligible to a non-technical audience in media outlets outside of the popular technical journals. Every three years this conference announces the latest advancements, opportunities, risks and regulations in the field, and provides a prime opportunity to blog and tweet interesting facts to engage a broader audience.

Engineering at scale

Engineering biology at scale is the ability to increase or decrease productivity on demand and was a key component in almost every technical presentation. Engineering biology is no longer limited to the capabilities of an individual; lab automation and bio foundries have enabled the production of biological materials that is approaching the same efficiency as industrial manufacturers. Regardless of the application, engineering at scale will facilitate the development of various supply chains and serve as an economic driver for biotechnology into new markets. The field has embraced a collaborative work environment, which is evident by the common practice to reuse biological parts, designs, and design/build/test software tools developed by colleagues for applications different from the original intent. The growing global repository of biological materials has generated a diverse collection of biological parts engineered to express a variety of materials. However, the exchange of information among researchers and biofabrication centers requires a common language and standards, which is currently lacking. Anil Wipat from the Newcastle University has been working with industry and academic partners to develop the Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL). The SBOL community consists of over 130 developers and scientists throughout the world working to develop standards for sharing information on engineered and biological systems. The SBOL platform includes biological part repositories with design details on novel engineered sequences, along with CAD software tools to design and visualize hierarchically assembled genetic compositions and functional modules. The community is encouraging developers and scientists to transition to this common language so that biological designs can be shared across a toolbox of software applications.

Conclusions

Synthetic biology shows promise of being a key technological advancement that is needed to address several critical global needs. To realize its full potential, however, the synthetic biology community must take on the responsibility to continue to formulate a vision for a sustainable future, communicate its research early and often in a transparent fashion, and develop tools to support engineering at scale. Achievements in synthetic biology are imminent as long as we embrace the change that it will bring.


B.Next is designing a biodefense technology strategy, demonstrating the potential that innovative tools and techniques can provide, and supporting the investment strategies of these innovations.

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B.Next stimulates defense against infectious disease epidemics by illustrating the power of new and emerging technologies to rapidly detect and quench epidemics before they become destabilizing.

Thanks to Stephanie Rogers

Tiara Jones

Written by

BioQuest

BioQuest

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