Synthetic biology is great, I really like everything about it. I truly do. I had the privilege of meeting and seeing the work of some of the pioneers in this exciting new approach to genetic engineering last year at MIT.
I must emphasize something about these bioengineers. They are extremely smart, hard working, innovative and, did I say it? smart biological engineers!

So what is it that ticks me off about some of the synthetic biology related articles? It’s not the “Frankenstein” remarks, it’s not the bioterrorism worries and it’s not even the JC Venter veneration!
Nope, it’s the constant comparison between synthetic biology now and computer science in the mid-80′s.

This comparison just brings along a whole truck load of babble that I think is incorrect. Mentioning that synthetic biology makes engineering biology so easy you can do it in your garage as if putting together a new lego set. Stating that people are sequencing their own genomes in their closet as if it were something like baking a cake in your microwave.

These stories are either incomplete or incorrect. You choose. I think that the average reader is going to misinterpret these articles. It’s quite notorious by looking at the comments made on the online news articles.

No doubt that synthetic biology makes engineering biology easier but it’s not something you’ll be doing in your garage/kitchen/bedroom closet. At least not legally, or with much success. Besides, the people that seem to be championing such efforts are mostly graduate students in fields related to biological sciences, not your regular Make magazine reader or science buff.

I’m not against the DIYBio movement. I just don’t think it should be synonymous with “garage synthetic biology”, because it’s not. They have a ton of really interesting projects that I believe would make more sense to put effort into.

So yeah, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

In summary: Synthetic biology is great awesome! But unlike Obama, it’s not your new bicylce.

[Photo: Alexander van Dijk]

Synthetic Biology is not your new bicylce

GOOGLE SQUARED AND GENETICS
Search terms: DNA sequence

Search terms: Genomes

Search terms: Genetic Diseases

Search terms: Genes

WOLFRAM|ALPHA AND ENGINEERING
And now, let me just put in my quick 2 eurocents (roughly 2.84 US cents) regarding Wolfram|Alpha.
I’ve found it to be a really valuable tool with any work that requires looking up tabulated data and proceeding with any type of calculations upon such data.

Wolfram|Alpha would have been such a time saver while I was working on my biotech industries project. Loads of engineering calculations and data to look up that would have been made so much easier. No need to skim through Perry’s handbook, through process engineering and transport phenomena books looking for figures, graphs and constants. Wolfram|Alpha would have made most of it a simple search.

In summary, Wolfram|Alpha is, in my opinion, a really large and structured Almanac with a super scientific calculator mashed-up into it and therefore a very useful reference tool. However, it’s pretty poor when it comes to anything outside it’s “comfort zone”, like life sciences. I’ll have more to say about this in a future post.

Google Squared and genetics, Wolfram Alpha and engineering

The new journal will be published by Wiley & Sons and has a respectable editorial board headed by Adam P. Arkin (Berkeley). The board includes well known researchers in this emerging field of bioengineering like Pamela Silver (Harvard), Luis Serrano (EMBL Spain), Ron Weiss (Princeton), Christina Smolke (Caltech) and more.

The new journal is described as follows:

Synthetic Biology as a journal will provide a forum for scientific inquiry in this field. The core will be publishing of Research Articles and Technical Reports that exemplify the cutting edge in both foundations and application for synthetic biology. Perspectives and Reviews will help track the major technical innovations and challenges and the rapid evolution of thought that characterizes this new field and engage the community in discussion of the impact of this science on biology, biotechnology, society, and the economy.

The journal is now accepting research articles, perspectives, reviews and spec sheets. I find the idea of spec sheets in biology, just brilliant (ex: BBa_F2620 Data Sheet pdf).
From some research presentations/articles I’ve already had a chance to look at, the first issue of Synthetic Biology will surely be a success.

Synthetic Biology – the journal

NAVIGENICS GETS SOME LINK LOVE
Hsien-Hsien Lei over at Eye on DNA gives us an inside look at Navigenics with an interview with Genetic Counseling Program Director Elissa Levin.

Genetics and Health also had the privilege of interviewing Navigenics with a 7 part (long!) blog post with some great topics.

Looking into Navigenics entrance into the personal genomics market, Thomas Goetz from Epidemix goes local and delivers some inside observations.

THE WOES OF PERSONALIZED GENOMICS
The personalized genomics hype is bringing up the good and the bad. By making genetic testing a spit & pay easy one-click process, the science behind the actual testing becomes somewhat doubted upon by the general public. This may not be the case but it has been seen in the media where words such as “snake oil” have been associated with genetic tests.

Lisa over at DNA Direct Talk gives us a look into this topic with a great post packed with related links.

As we can see, not all companies can be put in the same basket, but there are clues here and there that some of them “haven’t really done their homework“, says Sandra Porter over at Discovering Biology in a Digital World.

THE WHO, WHAT AND WHERE IN PERSONAL GENOMICS
The who, what and where on personalized genomics
Berci from ScienceRoll has done a great job compiling a load of links, videos and quotes regarding personalized genomics that will certainly put you up-to-date.

GENOMICS GOSSIP
And finally, The Gene Sherpa brings us some tabloid style gossip regarding the Navigenics opening cocktail parties. Find the details hiding at the very bottom of a another one of his great posts.

Thanks to all those that submitted links for this edition of Gene Genie. I’m sorry I couldn’t get you all in. Maybe next time :)
The next Gene Genie will be hosted at Gene Expression on the 27th of April.

Gene Genie: the better late than never personal genomics special edition

Fellow DNA Blogger, Blaine Bettinger, has taken the time (and plenty of it, so it seems!) to write a FREE downloadable eBook titled “I Have The Results of My Genetic Genealogy Test, Now What?” that focuses on genetic genealogy. It’s a 28 page booklet that is easy to read and goes over some important topics throughout 4 chapters.

Chapter 1: What Is (And Isn’t) Genetic Genealogy?
Chapter 2: How Do I Interpret My Y-DNA Results?
Chapter 3: How Do I Interpret My mtDNA Results?
Chapter 4: Monitoring the Field of Genetic Genealogy

If you’re interested in knowing more about genetic genealogy, take these two simple steps. First, download the FREE eBook (PDF) and read it carefully and if that’s not enough to quench your thirst, visit Blaine’s blog, The Genetic Genealogist.

I Have The Results of My Genetic Genealogy Test, Now What?

With 320 bacteria genomes at your disposal, you can explore each one of them via 4 different maps: Circular Genome, Genome, Pathway and DNAwalk.

I recommend giving it a try, even if just to see how the Google API was implemented.

[HT: digitalbio]

Genome Projector – zoomable user interface for molecular biology

The creation of a synthetic organism and related work being done by the Venter Institute has been running the press/blogs for quite some time now. The organism, also known as Synthia, is not yet a reality but the genetic structure seems well on it’s way.

Dr. Craig Venter doesn’t see himself as playing God, it’s more like using the building blocks of life to build new life forms.

“I don’t view that we’re creating life,” Venter told The Associated Press last year in describing this series of experiments. “I view that we’re modifying life to come up with new life forms by designing and synthetically constructing chromosomes.”

More on this:
- Venter Institute Scientists Create First Synthetic Bacterial Genome
- Scientists Create Synthetic Genome

Dr. Craig Venter and Synthia’s genome

This endeavor was creatively titled The 1000 Genome Project and will have the collaboration of an international team of researchers from various institutes around the world.

A project this grand is estimated to cost somewhere between 30 and 50 million US dollars. So, the project will receive financial support from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (UK), the Beijing Genomics Institute (China) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (US).

Anyhow, I’m interested to know if this has anything to do with the personal genome project. I couldn’t find any reference to Dr. George Church though.

One thousand genomes, coming right up!

Google Research (research.google.com) will soon be a massive repository of scientific data with hundreds of terabytes at our disposal.

Although there is still very little information about this, it looks like a promising endeavor that will certainly amuse the scientific community. Statistics have shown that technological advances come hand in hand with exponential accumulation of data. So, this will certainly come in handy.

Let’s see what the terms and conditions of such database usage are and then I’ll give my 2 cents worth of opinion. Until then, I can only see this as good news…

On a side note, this is obviously going to sprout another posting frenzy by the paranoid privacy bloggers and their Google-is-in-to-get-you mumbo-jumbo!

Google Research to become massive science data repository

HairDX is a genetic testing company that will let you know if you are prone to hair loss. They describe themselves as follows:

HairDX is the first genetic test to privately and confidentially determine if you have the genetic variations associated with early onset hair loss (Pattern Baldness).

So, in the long run, taking the test can actually save you a load of cash. That is if you are a consumer of anti- hair loss products.

Although I’ve never actually purchased products to counter my hair loss tendency, I’m sure the hair loss products industry is a booming business. Specially with the growing number of beauty and care products for men like skin creams.

HairDX – the genetic test for hair loss