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

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