The Synthetic Microbiology Caucus: a fresh channel for exploring new ideas, challenging conventional wisdom and fostering community projects

摘要

Contemporary synthetic biology was established as afield of scientific and technological research in the early2000s by electrical engineers and computational scientists – not by biologists. This foundational cause hadnumerous effects that have propagated to this day.The first is the focus on the relational logic of biologicalobjects as a way to both understand why they work asthey do and to reshape them for a different role –using as a mindframe the traditional hierarchy of parts/devices/systems. The second is the involvement of adiverse and playful community of SynBio practitionersthat unleashes its imagination and creativity for overcoming academic constraints and IP barriers, culminating in the iGEM competition1 and the do-it-yourself(DIY) subversion2. The third is the emphasis on applications: most SynBio-related news that makes headlines are about the surprising possibilities brought aboutby the field, from the cheap production of artemisinin inyeast3 for fighting the scourge of malaria to the resurrection of Neanderthals4 together with their woollymammoth5 pets. These angles bring novel perspectivesand challenges to the more conventional fields ofresearch in the life sciences and the biotechnologicalindustries.