Synthetic Biology: Refining Human Health

Scientists of various disciplines and backgrounds collaborate to conceive and design revolutionary biomolecular components, networks, and pathways, after which they use these innovations to reorganize and reprogram organisms. These re-engineered organisms will fundamentally change our lives over the next few years by helping to reduce the cost of drugs, using “green” sources of fuel, and aiding in the development of treatments for “superbugs” and various diseases including cancer. The rapidly evolving discipline of synthetic biology is dedicated to discovering entirely new systems of life or totally reworking current systems to use the minimum number of components possible. A number of enabling technologies have contributed to the emergence of synthetic biology, and as a result, a broad field has emerged that encompasses many areas. This chapter is to serve as an introduction to the place and provide a brief look at some of the more noteworthy cases that have occurred so far. It should be noted that DNA assembly and combinatorial variety creation are the fundamental molecular biology approaches utilized in these cases, along with computational modeling to aid in the design of new biological systems.