Making the Living World Engineerable Science, Practice, and Policy: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief (2016) / Chapter Skim
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Making the Living World Engineerable: Science, Practice, and Policy: Proceedings of a Workshop - in Brief
Making the Living World Engineerable: Science, Practice, and Policy: Proceedings of a Workshop - in Brief
Pages 1-9
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The workshop was organized by an ad hoc planning committee to discuss current trends in synthetic biology, including international scientific and technical developments in synthetic biology; possible risks and benefits related to these developments; and legal, regulatory, and policy concerns. Funding for the workshop was provided by Agilent Technologies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
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, began his presentation by describing the environmental impact of using animals as a food source. He identified greenhouse gas emissions and the competition for water and land associated with animal agriculture1 as the single greatest threat to global security.
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Boeke also discussed a potential project, modeled on Sc2.0, to synthesize a human genome in cells.4 After noting that work on human genomes should be accompanied by responsible discussion, Boeke said that his motivations in joining the human genome effort included gaining new knowledge about genome fundamentals, technology development with spinoffs for applications to global problems, and biomedical somatic applications. Boeke described studies where 100,000 base pair segments of human DNA were assembled and studies that resulted in the development of a haploid human cell line.
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Efcavitch observed the chemistry of DNA synthesis has changed little since it was invented in 1981, that synthesis remains limited to DNA strands of up to 150 nucleotides, suffers from reliability issues, and involves the use of toxic chemicals. Efcavitch described Molecular Assemblies' enzymatic approach for de novo DNA synthesis using terminal deoxy transferase (TdT)
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The biggest challenges, he suggested, do not involve how to stimulate innovation but rather are about how to govern increasingly technological democratic societies in ways that are neither authoritarian nor "incapable of settling disputes and figuring out ways to muddle through and move ahead." 7 Carlson said that GSK, in collaboration with Codexis, is replacing chemical synthesis of amoxicillin in its Singapore plant with biological production using enzymes, which removes almost 80 percent of the chemical waste, reduces the amoxicillin value chain carbon footprint by up to 12 percent, and improves industry leading product quality standards. 8 The two initiatives noted by Shen were the National Microbiome Project and the National Action Plan for Combatting Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria.
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described the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules as the key framework for oversight in the United States. She noted that synthetic biology research is moving into places not covered by existing oversight mechanisms.
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Clarke recounted the history of the development of the roadmap, beginning with recognition at the government level by then Minister of State for Universities and Science David Willetts and public dialogue in 2011, followed by convening a Roadmap Coordination Group and Leadership Council to oversee progress and update and re-steer as needed. Clarke observed that the government included synthetic biology as one of the "Eight Great Technologies" in 2012 and fully supported recommendations from the roadmap.
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Calvert suggested better public dialogue might orient the discussion toward a particular application where synthetic biology is part of a diverse range of solutions. Participants raised questions about the role of education to increase ethical science and responsible innovation.
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Participants raised questions about whether it is the most productive to examine the social and organizational questions coupled to technology development within a security framework. You remarked that, without an overarching roadmap or strategy for addressing innovation as well as security, entities like DHS and the FBI are "at wit's end" because they are left with existing legal frameworks.
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