Synthetic biology

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Concept.png Synthetic biology
(medical technology,  biotechnology)Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
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Interest of• Ginkgo Bioworks
• Craig Venter
An area of research that claims to be able to create new biological parts, devices, and systems, or to redesign systems that are already found in nature. This contrasts with "traditional" genetically modified organisms created by transferring existing genes from one cell type to another.

Synthetic biology (SynBio) is an area of research that seeks to create new biological parts, devices, and systems, or to redesign systems that are already found in nature. This contrasts with "traditional" genetically modified organisms created by transferring existing genes from one cell type to another.

Official narrative

Biology claims to be able to re-designing genes, cells, or organisms for gene therapy; development of minimal cells and artificial protocells; and development of organisms based on alternative biochemistry.[1]

This work has been driven by the development of genome synthesis and editing tools, as well as pools of standardized synthetic biological circuits with defined functions. The availability of these tools has spurred the expansion of a do-it-yourself biology movement.[2]

Synthetic biology has potential commercial applications in energy, agriculture, medicine, and the production of chemicals including pharmaceuticals.[1]

Due to more powerful genetic engineering capabilities and decreased DNA synthesis and sequencing costs, the field of synthetic biology is rapidly growing. In 2016, more than 350 companies across 40 countries were actively engaged in synthetic biology applications; all these companies had an estimated net worth of $3.9 billion in the global market.[3]


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