Difference between revisions of "Team:Bordeaux/Practices"
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− | <h3> Ethics </h3> | + | <h3> Ethics aspects about synthetic biology </h3> |
+ | <p align="center"><i>Before analyzing the ethical aspects of synthetic biology, it seems important to clearly define this new area of biology.</i></p> | ||
− | < | + | <h5>What is synthetic biology?</h5> |
− | <p> | + | <p align="justify">Synthetic biology is a new field of research in biology which <b>mixes science and engineering</b>. It focuses on the conception and the construction of new reliable functions through the creation of biological systems or the re-engineering of organisms which already exist. The singularity of synthetic biology compared to traditional biology is about engineering live beings to have a <b>predictable behavior</b>. In order to do so, scientists focus on optimizing existing biosynthetic pathways or creating new ones while bypassing or suppressing inefficient pathways in order to increase productivity. |
+ | <br> | ||
+ | Three different approaches exist in synthetic biology: | ||
+ | <br>- The metabolic engineering of the living beings by using biobricks (DNA sequences whose functions and assembly conditions are known). The biobricks are free of access on the WEB and can be synthesized on request. | ||
+ | <br>- The production of minimal genomes and simplified organisms where new functions can be added to realize a task. This approach is often used for the optimization of existing processes. | ||
+ | -The synthesis of a whole synthetic genome that will be inserted in existing cell hosts or in synthetic cells. This field of synthetic biology may help scientists to understand how living organisms are created. | ||
+ | <br> | ||
+ | The organisms which come from these approaches can be used in both industrial applications (for example to produce drugs, biofuels, biomass or biopesticides) and in basic research as tools like biosensors (exemple) or against pollution (exemple). </p> | ||
Revision as of 21:36, 31 July 2015