Synthetic Biology

Recent Advances in Chemical Engineering have given scientists the ability to create arbitrary DNA “messages” that have never existed inside any living organism. For the first time, scientists can download genetic sequences from the Internet and insert them into living organisms. Scientists can also begin to design standard sequences (“interchangeable parts”) that users can mix and match to create entirely new organisms.

These powerful new technologies are already bearing fruit. Here at UC Berkeley, Jay Keasling’s group is using synthetic biology to create organisms to solve the worldwide shortage of Artemisinin, a badly needed antimalarial drug. Meanwhile, Drew Endy’s group at MIT is developing basic technology. They dream of a day when engineers can assemble novel organisms from catalogs of well-understood genetic sequences in much the same way that today’s electrical engineers assemble microprocessors from standard circuits libraries. New synthetic biology programs are spreading around the country and around the world.

At the same time, new capabilities bring new responsibilities. Synthetic biologists are acutely aware of the need to guard against accidental or intentional misuse of these powerful new tools. Pending further study, the principal risks appear to be (a) creating a new channel for obtaining known – but traditionally tightly controlled diseases – such as polio, SARS, or small pox, (b) expanding the number of people capable of using genetic engineering techniques to modify organisms in order to make them more lethal, and (c) going beyond existing engineering to create new families of contagious organisms.

In January 2006, ITHS received MacArthur and Carnegie Foundation grants to help the synthetic biology community identify and, if possible, adopt useful self-regulation initiatives to deal with these issues.  For the next five months, ITHS faculty and students interviewed more than two dozen members of the synthetic biology community to identify self-regulation ideas, and foster discussion and consensus around the most promising candidates. (Additional support and advice for this work was provided by scholars at UC Berkeley, Northwestern and other universities.) The resulting analysis was then summarized in a detailed White Paper that was widely circulated within the community. In all, the document identified six separate initiatives that could materially reduce the chances that synthetic biology would be accidentally or intentionally misused.

In April 2006, ITHS presented the results of the White Paper for detailed discussion by synthetic biologists in the course of two Town Hall Meetings at Berkeley and MIT. One month later, ITHS's self-regulation options were presented to the full community's worldwide Synthetic Biology 2.0 conference. The resulting discussion ultimately led to a Declaration implementing two of the White Paper's highest priority proposals. First, community members agreed to work with gene synthesis companies to develop improved, second generation software for screening potentially dangerous orders. This work is now going forward as the International Consortium for Polynucleotide Synthesis. Second, community members urged individuals and organizations to avoid patronizing companies unless they actually perform such checks on a regular basis. The practice is expected to exert significant economic pressure on the comparative handful of gene synthesis companies that yet to adopt regular screening procedures.

These steps are only the beginning. ITHS is currently working with scholars at Berkeley and other campuses to implement still another White Paper proposal -- building an on-line portal where scientists contemplating so-called "experiments of concern" can receive expert advice. Full details can be found here. Comments welcome!

ITHS recognizes that no single scientific community can “solve” the biosecurity/biosafety problem alone. At the same time, the world has to start somewhere. Synthetic biologists have shown that they are more than willing to do their part. ITHS is committed to helping them.