Intellectual Property & Your Health Series - Applications of synthetic biology

Shidonna Raven
May 5
2 min read

Photo / Image Source: Unsplash,

Before you go to the Doctor!

Applications of synthetic biology

Many scientists suspect that synthetic biology will not only reveal new knowledge about the machinery of life but also bring about new biotechnological applications. Two major applications that are being pursued are biofuels and pharmaceuticals. For instance, researchers have been working on the synthetic manufacture of the antimalarial drug artemisinin, which is produced naturally in the sweet wormwood plant (Artemisia annua), a slow-growing species. By using the techniques of synthetic biology, scientists teased apart the plant’s DNA sequences and protein pathways that produce artemisinin and combined them with yeast and bacteria. This increased the production of synthetic artemisinin by some 10 million times the output that was possible in the late 1990s.

Other scientists have gone beyond this “cell factory” approach, which is still similar to the work done with recombinant DNA, by trying to create new forms of bacteria that can destroy tumours. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense has experimented with the creation of biological computers, and other military scientists are trying to engineer proteins and gene products from scratch that will act as targeted vaccines or cures.

In the area of biofuels, scientists at numerous companies are trying to create microbes that can break down dense feedstocks (such as switchgrass) to produce biofuels; such feedstocks can be grown, processed, and burned in a way that is more efficient, less expensive, and environmentally sustainable relative to the fossil fuels that vehicles currently use.

American geneticist and biochemist J. Craig Venter led an effort to modify the genes of microbes to secrete oil. If successfully scaled up for commercial production, these organisms could serve as valuable sources of renewable energy.