The field of synthetic biology, or engineering new forms of life, is less than two decades old, but its pioneers are responsible for some of the most interesting projects coming out of labs today: inscribing lines of James Joyce onto a synthetic genome, reproducing the smell of a rose without actually needing a rose, and possibly bringing back the extinct woolly mammoth.
So how did this field get started? Where do synthetic creatures belong on the family tree? And how does the language we use when we describe synthetic biology shape the field? The Verge spoke with Sophia Roosth, a historian of science at Harvard University who spent years studying the culture of synthetic biology for her new book, Synthetic: How Life is Made.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
The grand ideas of synthetic biology like bringing back the woolly mammoth seem very far away. But oftentimes I find that ideas that seem futuristic are already around us, like having a cochlear implant or an IUD technically can make you a cyborg. Are there any examples like this for synthetic biology?
Right, a lot of people think of synthetic biology as something very futuristic. Thats common because a lot of science talks in terms of future promises. You cant write a grant application to the NIH without using that rhetoric: step 1, get the grant; step 2, do my research; step 3, cure cancer.
But on a more simple kind of day-to-day example, there are already some parts that have begun to influence the world in small ways. I think many people arent aware of the kinds of synthetic entities that theyre interacting with on a daily basis. One example is the HPV vaccine, which is synthetically produced.
The scientist Jay Keasling, for example, is working to develop a synthetic anti-malarial, which is orders of magnitude cheaper than any kind of naturally produced anti-malarial. Over at Gingko Bioworks, theyre working on synthetic flavoring and perfumes, which is one of the places where synthetic biology does overlap quite a bit with biotechnology to porting genes from one to another to create certain kinds of qualities and capabilities.
When people are creating new synthetic organisms, how will they fit in our existing family trees? Are there going to be new trees?
A question I heard voiced by scientists in the lab is, What kind of entity is this? What does it mean to have these new forms of life that contain genes from really diverse lineages?
This is a concern shared by both the scientists themselves and the social scientists thinking about the issue. Theres no consensus, but I think one of the ways its been answered is the idea that, actually, the fact that there are organisms that contain multiple lineages is not new. This is something thats very common for microbiome research. Were full of bacteria and theres viral DNA within our own DNA, and fungi are growing in various parts of our body.
So there are other examples of that, so-called meta-organisms that contain different kinds of life from diverse lineages. And then a lot of scientists will point to that to say, when were thinking about what constitutes an organism, maybe a single genome is no longer a meaningful way of defining what a species is anyway.
What do synthetic biologists think about evolution?
Its really varied. Some synthetic biologists would say evolution was the greatest tool they had in their toolkit. Unlike other engineers, they were working with a material that could actually modify itself.
Others would say it was its greatest design flaw because it creates organisms that, over time, are full of these capabilities that are no longer necessary but are a product of evolution. Some say this is a form of forward evolution and they werent doing anything that evolution wouldnt do on its own, were just doing it faster. And some say that actually what synthetic biology is up to is kind of wresting life away from evolution, that evolution had controlled the kinds of things that life looked like for too long and that synthetic biologists could intervene and shape life in a more human-oriented way.
Lets go back and talk about history a bit. Synthetic biology really is the cutting edge of science, and its only been around since the early 2000s. How did that happen? What was the leap that first made someone think, hey, we can engineer new forms of life?
Drew Endy at MIT was trying to create a computational model for a very simple bacteriophage called T7, which has been studied in microbiology labs since the 40s. Its an incredibly well-known and very simple organism, and his thinking was that it should be relatively simple to predictively model. It can only do two things: either sit inside a cell, or replicate burst the cell and infect more cells.
What Endy found is that this is actually incredibly difficult. You cant predictively model any of this behavior on the computer. But instead of scrapping the model and starting from scratch computationally, he thought, well, if the phage which is so simple is still so complex that we cant understand how it works, then we should be able to build a simpler phage that is predictable. And then the further thinking is, if you can make a phage that is viable and predictive, maybe you will actually know more about the virus than you did beforehand.
In the early days of the field, was there a goal that scientists were working toward? I dont expect an explicit manifesto, but what did they see as the purpose of synthetic biology?
The early motto of the MIT Synthetic Biology Working Group was making life better one part at a time. What counted as better was a big question to be answered, but it was partly about design principles. It was about the challenge of whether we could make life that would adhere to certain kinds of engineering principles that you wouldnt find naturally.
You spent years interviewing synthetic biologists and studying their culture. What assumptions did you have about the field before going in? Were there any surprises?
One of my guesses was that synthetic biology was part of biotech, and doing similar stuff to what biotech has been up to since 1973. And what I found most interesting once I started working in the lab and learning more is that, while on the surface of things it looks like the research is quite similar in the kinds of techniques being used, the kinds of questions being asked were altogether different.
Biotech is invested in trying to create practical new biological entities: something marketable, something useful, like pharmaceuticals. In early days of synthetic biology, thats not the case. Its not about trying to find useful things, but really trying to build new biological objects.
Lets talk a little bit about terms here. Your book has an entire section about the language used in synthetic biology. What does the language we use around the concept of synthetic tell us about synthetic biology?
Language is so important. Synthetic biologists refer to different parts of the genome as circuitry or on-off switches, and thats beholden to a much longer history of electrical engineering and computer science. Ive heard so many times people talk about, Whats the difference between programming a cell and programming a computer?
Interestingly, [science historian] Lily Kay says that the description of genetic material of code actually preceded association of code with computers. It used to be associated with ideas from linguistics before it became associated with computers.
But what are the actual effects here? If we used different terms to talk about synthetic biology, how would things be different?
Language has effects on the way we imagine how biology works. If you think about life as a machine, that is going to get embedded in the way you approach problems of biological design and biological engineering. Take reductionism, or the belief that you can explain the whole by reference to the function of each of the ways. Theres been pushback recently in fields like systems biology, but its overwhelmingly common in much of biotech and synthetic biology. Its the belief that if you know what all the parts do, youll be able to say something about the whole, and so the focus is on parts. That language of reductionism, of machine parts, affects the design and the way you approach things.
Its also very common to talk about whether people were creating life and whether that was a godlike process. During the debates about creationism and controversies over teaching evolution in schools, there was an interesting contingent of intelligent design proponents who said that synthetic biology was a demonstration of creationism. If it takes scientists at MIT and Caltech years to make something as simple as a virus, theres no way this could have happened naturally, right? Synthetic biologists found this funny at best and something to be concerned about more often, but it also shaped the ways they talked about what they did. Synthetic biologists I was working with at MIT stopped using the word create because it was just too inflammatory in the political contexts in which they were working.
What do you think is next for the field?
Synthetic biology is beginning to turn into something thats less of a discipline in itself and more of a commonsense approach to bioengineering. Itll become both less surprising and more thinly spread across the life sciences.
The closer biotech gets to modifying humans, the more ethical concerns will attend it. But lets take a prior example like recombinant DNA. In 1973, people were concerned that scientists were playing God, concerned with ethical issues and issues of public safety. Now I have a sister whos a freshman in college and she called me to talk about how shes doing some basic recombinant DNA in her lab class. Its the kind of thing that has become ubiquitous and unremarkable.
My guess is that both the methods and the technology of synthetic biology and here Im thinking particularly of DNA synthesis will continue to become more common, less remarked upon, and just part of the toolkit of biotechnology and bioengineering.
Read more:
How to create a new life form: Historian Sophia Roosth on the future ... - The Verge
- Howard H. Seliger, Hopkins biology professor [Last Updated On: January 1st, 2013] [Originally Added On: January 1st, 2013]
- General Biology-Concepts and Investigations - Video [Last Updated On: January 31st, 2013] [Originally Added On: January 31st, 2013]
- Biology Reproduction part 13 (Sexual reproduction: Flower Structure) CBSE class 10 X - Video [Last Updated On: January 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: January 9th, 2014]
- How far can a Buddhist approach to biology take us? [Last Updated On: January 14th, 2014] [Originally Added On: January 14th, 2014]
- Biology revision song on protein synthesis by Andrew Perkins - Video [Last Updated On: January 30th, 2014] [Originally Added On: January 30th, 2014]
- Scientific Evidence for Creation CSE BIBLE FORUM Origins 1212 Dr Seuss Biology - Video [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2014]
- Synthetic biology lab backed by 2 million award [Last Updated On: April 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 9th, 2014]
- Vanguard High teacher wins 2014 Shell Science Lab Challenge [Last Updated On: April 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 9th, 2014]
- Biohacking and the problem of bioterrorism [Last Updated On: April 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 9th, 2014]
- Synthetic genetic clock keeps accurate time across a range of temperatures [Last Updated On: April 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 9th, 2014]
- Math modeling integral to synthetic biology research [Last Updated On: April 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 9th, 2014]
- Vacancies in biology dept. impact course options [Last Updated On: April 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 9th, 2014]
- Dr. Joshua Reece Earns Best Presentation Award At Conference [Last Updated On: April 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 9th, 2014]
- Life Science Reference - Biology Online [Last Updated On: April 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 9th, 2014]
- 9th Grade Biology: A Hectic Introduction to Mammals - Video [Last Updated On: April 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 9th, 2014]
- Theism vs Evolution, Biology, and History - Video [Last Updated On: April 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 9th, 2014]
- AP Biology Ch.49 Circulatory System Livestream - Video [Last Updated On: April 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 9th, 2014]
- AP Biology Review Cards - Video [Last Updated On: April 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 9th, 2014]
- AP Biology - Chapter 49 Circulatory System Part 1 - Video [Last Updated On: April 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 9th, 2014]
- MSc Biology and PhD Boreal Ecology - Video [Last Updated On: April 9th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 9th, 2014]
- Whale tales: Students set sail for biology class research [Last Updated On: April 10th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 10th, 2014]
- Barnard biology professor honored with Emily Gregory award for teaching [Last Updated On: April 10th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 10th, 2014]
- biology: Definition from Answers.com - Answers - The Most ... [Last Updated On: April 10th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 10th, 2014]
- Biology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: April 10th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 10th, 2014]
- Bridging the Brain Disease Knowledge Gap through Computational Modeling and Systems Biology: An O... - Video [Last Updated On: April 10th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 10th, 2014]
- Sharpening microscope images: New technique takes cues from astronomy, ophthalmology [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- COLLEGE NEWS: April 13 [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- Eureka Once, Eureka Twice [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- Biology [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- The Art of Nutrients - Biology Song - 'Counting Stars' Remake - Video [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- Biology - The Nervous System - Video [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- OCR AS BIOLOGY: - Cell Structures - Video [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- Evolutionary Biology Research / F. Robin O'Keefe and Julie Meachen / Page Museum - Video [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- What Is a Thyroid In Biology? : Let's Get Medical - Video [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- Red Ice Radio - Sofia Smallstorm - Hour 1 - Chemtrails to Pseudo-Life & Synthetic Biology - Video [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- STARNES: Did professor advocate censorship of conservative student newspaper? [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- German Research Foundation approves new priority program in the life sciences [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- Announcing BioCoder issue 3 [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- Poetry by Linda Bierds, Buddhism and biology [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- Digestion - Biology Music Video - Video [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- AS Level Biology- Edexcel/SNAB- Unit 1 Revision Notes - Video [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- The Anatomy Of The Heart - Video [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- #OilerNation Biology Program Q & A Hangout - Video [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- Northwestern University researchers on synthetic biology - Video [Last Updated On: April 15th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 15th, 2014]
- Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (Vienna) - Video [Last Updated On: April 16th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 16th, 2014]
- Biology 1B - 2014-04-14 - Video [Last Updated On: April 16th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 16th, 2014]
- AP Biology Review 3/7: Cell Energy - Video [Last Updated On: April 16th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 16th, 2014]
- MCB 410: Developmental Biology - Video [Last Updated On: April 16th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 16th, 2014]
- Dyslexic Advantage - UCSF Symposium - Dr Fumiko Hoeft - Biology of Stealth Dyslexia - Video [Last Updated On: April 16th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 16th, 2014]
- Life cycle of Silkworm- Insect Molecular Biology Lab, Dr.M.Krishnan, Bharathithasan University. - Video [Last Updated On: April 16th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 16th, 2014]
- Tracking flu levels with Wikipedia [Last Updated On: April 17th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 17th, 2014]
- Biology major Katharine Leigh '15 wins Udall scholarship [Last Updated On: April 17th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 17th, 2014]
- First in the nation: UW-Madison establishes post-doc in feminist biology [Last Updated On: April 17th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 17th, 2014]
- Biology Project: Predation - Video [Last Updated On: April 17th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 17th, 2014]
- Report Focussing On Biology Underlining - Video [Last Updated On: April 17th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 17th, 2014]
- edX | MITx: Quantitative Biology Workshop: 7QBWx About Video - Video [Last Updated On: April 17th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 17th, 2014]
- Cell Mediated Response (Erdmann's 2B-3 AP Biology) - Video [Last Updated On: April 17th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 17th, 2014]
- Biology Plantae part 13 (Mosses: structure, life cycle, mosses vs leafy liverwots) CBSE class 11 XI - Video [Last Updated On: April 17th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 17th, 2014]
- Biology - Photosynthesis - Video [Last Updated On: April 19th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 19th, 2014]
- The Genie in Your Genes: Epigenetics and Biology of Intention - Video [Last Updated On: April 19th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 19th, 2014]
- Introduction to Synthetic Biology Andrew Hessel - Video [Last Updated On: April 19th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 19th, 2014]
- Teacher of Biology [Last Updated On: April 21st, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 21st, 2014]
- Biology - Osmosis - Video [Last Updated On: April 21st, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 21st, 2014]
- UW to host first feminist biology post-doc program in nation [Last Updated On: April 22nd, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 22nd, 2014]
- The Biology Project: Cell Biology - University of Arizona [Last Updated On: April 22nd, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 22nd, 2014]
- The Biology Corner [Last Updated On: April 22nd, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 22nd, 2014]
- Rader's BIOLOGY 4 KIDS.COM - Biology basics for everyone! [Last Updated On: April 22nd, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 22nd, 2014]
- Stanford CF Education Day 2014 Understanding the Biology - Video [Last Updated On: April 22nd, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 22nd, 2014]
- 9th Grade Biology: Hectic Introduction to the Human Organ Systems pt.1 - Video [Last Updated On: April 22nd, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 22nd, 2014]
- Honors Biology and Biology Mrs. Ellis - Video [Last Updated On: April 22nd, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 22nd, 2014]
- Biology professor researches parasites [Last Updated On: April 22nd, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 22nd, 2014]
- TRANSCRIPTION-Biology - Video [Last Updated On: April 22nd, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 22nd, 2014]
- 2014 Interdisciplinary Innovation Forum: "Mathematical Biology" - Video [Last Updated On: April 22nd, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 22nd, 2014]
- This Week in Genome Biology [Last Updated On: April 24th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 24th, 2014]
- Biology - Calvin Cycle - Video [Last Updated On: April 24th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 24th, 2014]
- Systems biology course 2014 Uri Alon - lecture 3: FFL and more - Video [Last Updated On: April 24th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 24th, 2014]
- Systems biology course 2014 Uri Alon - lecture 2: Auto regulation - Video [Last Updated On: April 24th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 24th, 2014]
- Systems biology course 2014 Uri Alon - lecture 1: Basic concepts - Video [Last Updated On: April 24th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 24th, 2014]
- 9th Grade Biology: Hectic Introduction to the Human Organ Systems pt.2 - Video [Last Updated On: April 24th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 24th, 2014]
- Have Atheists Hijacked Biology? - Video [Last Updated On: April 24th, 2014] [Originally Added On: April 24th, 2014]