Synthetic Biology-What can we expect...

                        Synthetic Biology-What can we expect:

Synthetic Biology deals with the study of existing biological systems and structures, redesigning them and formation of new biological systems. This field combines knowledge and apply it for the betterment of mankind from a number of fields including; genetic engineering, molecular biology, biotechnology, biophysics, molecular engineering, computer and electrical engineering.

The field of synthetic biology is continuously revolutionizing the world as it provides human with all the necessary knowledge needed for dealing with various problems, diseases and helping mankind to think beyond boundaries and enabling them to devise such techniques and technologies which were considered impossible before.

CONTRIBUTIONS:

Following are some recent contributions by the field of synthetic biology.

1.Chimeric Organisms:

                                        The word chimera is driven from Greek mythology which means a monster having head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a snake, ultimately a combination of various living beings. In biology such thing is termed as chimera which contains materials from multiple living sources, it could be a chimeric DNA or a chimeric organism. Now a day scientific community across the globe is working on developing chimeric organisms having human genetic material and capable of producing various human organs which could ultimately be used for clinical trials, testing of various new medicines, and for transplant purposes. At the moment the demand for organ transplant is 4 times the supply. So, successful formation of chimeric organisms having human cells and organs will be helpful to meet this requirement. Multiple experiments were carried before human trials:

   · Inserting rat stem cells in to mice forming rat-mice hybrid.

   ·  Inserting rat stem cells in to pig no positive result.

   ·  Inserting human stem cells in to pig embryo. Positive result and formation of human –pig hybrid.

Procedure for the formation of Human-Pig hybrid

2.Bio-fuels:

                  Petro-chemicals are now becoming an out dated source to power our vehicles.  Continuous CO₂ emissions and global warming issues are forcing man kind to shift towards a viable source. Bio-fuels are the best possible alternative till now to power our vehicles. The formation of bio-fuels is a complex process and greatly dependent on synthetic biology. Formation of such bio-catalysts which can effectively and efficiently convert sugars in to desired products is because of molecular engineering and synthetic biology. Researchers are now struggling to develop more efficient bio-catalysts which can produce high quantity of bio-fuels out of sugars and also do it more cheaply in order to bring the cost of bio-fuels way lower than the traditional petrochemicals. Many developed and highly developing nations are already producing bio-fuels in large quantities and are using it. USA, Brazil and Germany are the top 3 producers followed by China, Argentina, France, Indonesia, Canada, Thailand, and Colombia.

Top 10 Bio-fuel Producers (Courtesy World Economic Forum)

3.Bio-sensors:

                          Bio-sensors are such organisms which are modified to give out certain signals upon completion of some physiological and biological process. These kinds of sensors can be used to detect and quantify certain reactions and biological process. These bio-sensors provide an effective way to monitor cells under in-vivo conditions helping scientists to better understand the survival, migration, and possible tumourigenicity in animal cells.

4.Data Storage:

                           Storing data is a key part of learning and evolving as it enables us to look back in our past and see where we did right or wrong and what is necessary to be done to deal with a specific problem. But to store data for a long time is a challenge. Normal hard drives have a life span of 5-10 years and are unable to store data for centuries, which forces us to make its copies regularly and if one doesn’t do it he’ll lose the data forever. Scientist are working to deal with the problem by creating such thing which can hold data for centuries without any issue. Science is now looking at nature for a solution. Researchers at The ETH Zurich, Switzerland believe that answer lies in natural data storage system of living cells: THE DNA, So compact and complex that a 1gm can theoretically store all data of TECH Giants like Google, Amazon, Facebook. In storage terms 1 gm DNA can store 455 exabytes of information and 1 exabyte is equal to a billion gigabytes.

DNA is a unique way of nature to store data for centuries in form of fossils. Scientist has succeeded in extracting genome of 110,000-year-polar bear and recently a 700,000-year old horse. Robert Grass of Dept. of Chemistry and applied Bio-science said:

       "We have found ways of making DNA very stable, So we want to combine high storage density of DNA with stability of DNA found in fossils"

Future USB's might be made up of DNA

5.Nano-particles:

                          Use of nanotech in various fields of science including biology is increasing day by day. Nanotech in biology has shown some promising results so far indicating the impact it could make on our lives. Many kinds of nano-robots are used as drug delivery systems which deliver a certain medicine directly in to the infected cells preventing the uptake of the drug by healthy cells and avoiding some malfunctioning and side effects of the drug. These nano-robots are enabling researchers to deliver the drugs in a very controlled manner and dosage. Various nano-particles are also being used to reduce anti-biotic resistance. Various nano-particles are under clinical trial for treatment of various diseases. E.g.:

   · Abraxane are the nanoparticle albumin bound paclitaxel used for the treatment of various type of cancers including breast cancer and pancreatic cancer.

   · C-dots are small silica based nano particles which give fluorescence with an organic  dye and is being used for easy detection of tumour cells by surgeons.

   · Nano particles are also used for treatment of eye diseases including cataract and dry eye disease.

Nano-robots directly delivering medicine to individual cells

6.Genome editing:

                               Every single development inside a living organism is managed by its genome all the necessary data is encoded inside the genome. A minor error in this genome can result in to severe and incurable diseases but thanks to genome editing these issues are now less complicated. Genome editing is the thing these days. Everyone across the world is talking about it and the impact it can cause on the human life. Imagine of an incurable disease which can be treated with replacing the error gene with healthy one simply by cutting the first are replacing the latter with it. According to an estimate almost 85-90% of genetic disorders are incurable but with this gene editing we can deal with those issues. Along with treatment of diseases genome editing can also be used for solving many other problems. It can be used in production of more advanced and efficient plants, animals and even humans. It can be used in plants to make them resistive against various diseases without any usage of foreign DNA, improving yield outputs of the plant, making them more adoptive to harsh environmental conditions, etc. Genome editing is an efficient way to manipulate a living being according to our desire and can prove extremely beneficial in near future. Currently the most effevtive genome editing tool is the CRISPR/CAS-9 , others include CRISPR/CPF-1, Zinc finger nuclease, and TALENS.