Breaking Down Practices v1.0: Applications Megan Palmer May 10th 2011

PCSBI FAQs

What are new, real challenges that SB poses in this domain? Justifying / distinguishing syn bio vs trad genetic eng approaches –Abstraction, standardization, composability enabling complex systems engineering –Difference in process vs kind (e.g. fast, cheap, safe vs altogether different) –Taking advantage of biology’s toolkit (reproduction, evolution, interaction) Success often evaluated largely by applications, whereas greatest benefit may be cross-cutting technology platforms (i.e. tools) –e.g. (SynB)ERC top-down model in which testbeds drive technology –Merits of high vs low risk / benefit technologies (Lim e.g. ‘toys’)? Articulating present reality, future promises and intermediate successes

How might this relate to your current or future work? (Re-)inventing the wheel (we’re different yet the same) Fragmented regulatory landscape; largely application- dependent

What case studies might be relevant? SynBERC’s testbed portfolio - rationale (or lack thereof) as motivating for technology platform development –Retired Testbeds: TDB –Current Testbeds: MCF, ‘Industrial’ –Future Testbeds: Cyanobacteria, Stem Cells ‘Syn bio’-labeled commercial applications –e.g. biofuels. artemisinin

Who are people that might help us work through these problems? Jay Keasling - SynBERC’s model Adam Arkin - Recent white paper on ‘the new bioeconomy’ Harvey Blanch JBEI) - BioEconomics Tom OSTP - Roadmap for Fed Investment in Biotech

Can you find articles (or other resources) we might draw upon for background? Innumerable Reviews Touching on ‘Application Landscapes’ and Roadmaps Synthetic Society Meeting Notes Arkin White Paper on ‘The New Bioeconomy’

Akin A Setting the standard in synthetic biology. Nature Biotechnology. Such community repositories will yield the most benefit when synthetic-biology designs scale to systems requiring many interacting parts, thereby limiting the utility of even inspired tinkering to optimize function ….Although we cannot quite yet imagine what synthetic biological applications might require the numbers and quality of elements on which these advanced technological systems rely, it is economically and socially important that we improve the efficiency, reliability and predictability of our biological designs.

Notes fr. Discussions with Adam Arkin Programs Pipes DiscoveryDesign penicillin rational protein eng metabolic eng syn bio route?