1. Future trends in Synthetic
Biology
Dinithi Vihanga De Silva & Namali De Silva

3. Contents
What is synthetic biology?
New hope in science to address global needs
Current applications of synthetic biology
Future trends in synthetic biology
Potential risks of synthetic biology
Regulation of synthetic biology
Conclusion
References

4. Synthetic biology is the
application of engineering
principles, such as
standardization, decoupling, and
abstraction, to biology in order to
redesign biological systems with
novel functionalities.
(Mao, N., Aggarwal et al., 2021)
What is synthetic biology??

5. What is synthetic biology?
A new Biological Research area
Synthetic biology is a new research that combines science and
engineering. Synthetic biology encompasses a variety of different
approaches, methodologies and disciplines, and many different
definitions exist. synthetic biology act as the design and construction of
new biological functions and systems not found in nature.
Synthetic Biology aims ?
It aims at designing and building novel
biological systems.
Final Goal is,
The final goal is to be able to design biological
systems in the same way engineers design
electronic or mechanical systems.

6. Synthetic
biology is the
combination
of these
subjects.

7. In 2000, the term synthetic biology‘ was
again introduced by Eric Kool and other
speakers at the annual meeting of the
American Chemical Society in San
Francisco. Here, the term was used to
describe the synthesis of unnatural organic
molecules that function in living systems.
Synthetic Biology becomes part of
living system
Figure 01- Dr. Eric Kool ( university
of Stanford , USA.)

8. New hope in science to address global needs
Commercial scale biofuel production
Ensure food security
Effective and novel vaccines
Cure for cancer, HIV and genetic disorders
Affordable gene therapy
Cheaper medicine and easy accession

9. Current Applications
of Synthetic Biology

10. Microbial-based fertilizers
• Improve the soil health
• Enhances the crop production by
suppling mixture of nutrients
• Suppress soil born pathogenic
diseases in crops
• Maintain the symbiotic
relationships
Genome-edited crops for higher
yield, resistance to disease and
improved nutrition
• Establishing nitrogen fixation
mechanisms in non-legume crops.
• An array of genome editing
technologies
• Agri-food applications include the
“Golden Rice” project
• Various plant-based or cell-based
alternative protein products to
replace the energy and resource-
intensive animal meat
Food & Agricultural Applications
Figure 02- Cell based meat production in lab.
Van Loo, E.J., Caputo, V. and Lusk, J.L., 2020.

11. Environmental Applications
Electronic waste recycle
• The use of engineered
microbes to explore and
recover metal and rare
earth elements to reduce
and upcycle electronic
waste.
Biodegradable plastics
• Improve the recyclability
• Reduce the generation
• Discovery of the
poly(ethylene terephthalate)
(PET)-degrading bacterium
• Ideonella sakaiensis and the
two key enzymes.
• more efficient breakdown of
conventional plastics
• fight against the plastics
pollution
Figure 03- Poly- ethylene terephthalate (PET)-degrading
bacterium - Ideonella sakaiensis

12. Bioremediation
• Potential environmental
benefits
• Microorganisms or even
plants could be
engineered to degrade
pesticides and remove
pollutants. (Tucker and
Zilinskas 2006).
Biosensors
• Have a broad range of
uses (including the
production of
photographic bacteria,
(Levskaya et al. 2005),
• They can also be
developed to detect toxic
chemicals, such as
arsenic. (Chu et al,. 2007)
Environmental Applications
Figure 04 - Light imaging by engineered Escherichia coli.
(These smart bacteria ‘photograph’ a light pattern as a high-
definition chemical image.) (Levskaya,,C.A.et al, 2005. )

13. Industrial Applications
Advanced materials
• Stimuli responsive and
multifunctional polymers to
produce protective clothing
and buildings.
• “Programmed proteins” that
can self assemble into
predictable shapes can be
used in chemical and
medicinal industries.
Advanced manufacturing
• Cell free manufacturing
ease downward processing
allows the scope of
production.
• Waste-to-energy projects
direct waste as renewable
and alternative feedstock
for multiple productions.
(electricity from
wastewater)
Figure 05-Applications of cell free manufacturing

14. Industrial Applications
Sustainbale products
• Mushroom leather
• Spider silk light weight
threads
• CO2-based photosynthetic
pathways to produce
chemicals from
cyanobacteria. (Butyrate with
Syrechococcus elongates.)
Biofuels
• Photosynthetic production of
biofuels using genetically
engineered microbes.
Figure 06-Algal biofuels (Saad et al, 2019)
Mushroom leather Spider silk threads

15. Medicine
Diagnostics and
prophylactics
• Theranostic cells as sensors
and activators that can sense
the disease state and produce
appropriate therapeutic
response itself.
• In vivo diagnosis using live
engineered bacteria to detect,
report, record of the
pathogen and production of
antibiotics.
Pharmaceuticals
• Small molecule drugs on
demand to make cheaper
medicine.
• Small molecules fight against
cancer.
• Usage of microbes to
synthesize demanding small
molecules like artemisinin
and cannabinoids replacing
plant sources.
Figure 07-A model of engineered bacteria. (Pedrolli et
al, 2017)

16. Medicine
Therapeutics
• CAR (for chimeric antigen receptor) technology
to recognize and attack cancer cells.
• Genetically engineered viruses to correct
defective genes in patients with inherited
diseases.
• CRISPR-Cas9 therapy to treat inherited and non-
inherited diseases like HIV and cancer. Figure 08- Applications of CRISPR-Cas9 therapy.
( Zhang B., 2020)

17. Future trends of
Synthetic Biology

18. Figure 09- Areas of synthetic biology that
have potential to be industrialized in future.
(Mao et al, 2020)

19. Regenerative Medicine
Figure 10- Cell reprogramming (Anastasia et al, 2010)
Shinya Yamanaka (2006) discovered that
patient specific induced Pluripotent Stem
Cells can be transformed from somatic cells.
This method successfully treated sickle-cell
anemia in a humanized mouse model.
There are future possibilities to elucidate
disease mechanisms in vitro, to carry out
drug screening and toxicology studies, and
to advance cell replacement therapy in
regenerative medicine.
It makes personalized medicine a reality.

20. Making xenotransplantation a reality
Figure 11- The use of CRISPR for xenotransplantation (Edwards Z., 2020)
The development of synthetic biology has
been used to develop genetically engineered
pigs who are virus resistant and have human
like immune profiles.
There is potential to transplant the cells,
tissues and organs from pig to human to
replace diseased or damaged organs due to
diabetes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
It is expected to start human trials in near
future; having low/no immunological
responses and higher survival rate.

21. 3D Bio Printing
Applications Organovo, an "early-stage regenerative
medicine company", was the first company to
commercialize 3D bio-printing technology. The company
utilizes its NovoGen MMX Bioprinter for 3D bioprinting.
The printer is optimized to be able to print skin tissue, heart
tissue, and blood vessels among other basic tissues that
could be suitable for surgical therapy and transplantation.
Bio-printing technology will eventually be used to create
fully functional human organs for transplants and drug
research, which will allow for more effective organ
transplants and safer more effective drugs.
Figure 12-
3D bio-printer

22. Figure 13 -3D illustration of a nanobot attacking a cancer
cell. By University of South Australia.
https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/645393
Cancer survival rates could be greatly improved if
scientists are successful in developing microscopic
medical weapons that obliterate cancerous cells.
Nanomachines may be tiny – 50,000 of them would
fit across the diameter of a human hair – but they
have the potential to pack a mighty punch in the fight
against cancer.
Researchers at Durham University in the UK have
used nanobots to drill into cancer cells, killing them in
just 60 seconds.
They are now experimenting on micro-organisms and
small fish, before moving on to rodents. Clinical trials
in humans are expected to follow and it is hoped that
the results may have the potential to save millions of
lives.
Nano robots

23. Future vaccines
RNA and DNA vaccines have developed using synthetic biology
technology.
Vaccines have the potential to be used to treat diseases, rather than prevent
them. Trials are going to produce vaccines for autoimmune diseases,
tumors (cancers), allergies, diabetes and drug addiction. Fig 14 - Needle free nano-patch vaccine
Fig 15- Edible vaccines
Needle free vaccination is ready to check on human trials
using edible vaccines, needle free skin patches and
micro-needle injection methods.
Edible vaccines, delivered through bananas and potatoes
can be produced with low cost and high effectiveness
and also can be easily accessible around the world.

24. Synthetic chromosomes
Virus and bacterial chromosomes have already synthesized and there are
plenty of applications.
Recently, all the 16 chromosomes of yeast were synthesized artificially.
There is a potential to synthesize human and plant chromosomes in near
future.
These synthetic chromosomes can be used for safe gene therapy applications in humans and potential
tools for detection and cure genetic disorders.
Yeast synthetic chromosomes can be used for vaccine production, drug delivery and effective vectors in
gene therapy.
In plants, technology should play an important role in genetic engineering to produce more and higher
quality agricultural and industrial products to meet future demands.

25. There are two factors which make the risk governance of
synthetic biology potentially problematic.
1) synthetic biology involves the production of living
organisms, which by definition are self- propagating.
2) with the growth of the Internet and the routinisation of
many biotechnological procedures, the tools for doing
synthetic biology are readily accessible (Garfinkel et al. 2007)
Potential risks of synthetic biology

26. Synthetic biology can accidentally
release synthetic organisms which
could have unintended detrimental
effects on the environment or on
human health.
(De Vriend 2006).
Environmental risks: biosafety

27.  Statements to the effect that the next 50 years of DNA evolution will take
place not in Nature but in the laboratory and clinic‖ (Benner 2004:785),
accompanied by inventions such as plants that produce spider silk, clearly
challenge everyday understandings of nature and our place in it.
 3D bio printers can make issues about human identity.
 Xenotransplantation and other animal trials will lead to animal cruelty issues.
Ethical Issues
A unique ethical concern about synthetic biology is
that it may result in the creation of entities which
fall somewhere between living things and machines.
Also ethical problems arise whether the advances of
synthetic biology can be accessed equally around the
world.

28. Micro-organisms could be created which are
radically different from existing ones, and these
microorganisms might have unpredictable and
emergent properties (Tucker and Zilinskas
2006), making the risks of accidental release
very difficult to assess in advance (De Vriend
2006).
Creation of unpredictable microbes
Ex: Genetically modified viruses are used for
gene therapies to cure harmful diseases, but
they also lead to the creation of even
harmful deadly pathogens.

29. “Biological engineers of the
future will start with their
laptops, not in the laboratory.”
Drew Endy.
Biology from Laptops Computer
helps in
designing
life
Everything
available
Online

30. Where might synthetic biology
brings us?

31. The risks synthetic biology pose to human health and the environment are
serious since synthetic biology has the ability to create organisms that have
never existed before and their complexity will only increase over time. We
must establish proper regulations and safeguards before this technology
evolves too far and it is too late.
Regulations of Synthetic Biology
• Cartagena protocol (concerned with the biosafety of living modified organisms)
• (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD]
• (European Academies Science Advisory Council [EASAC], 2010)
• (Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, 2010). In USA.
• (National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine [NASEM], 2016
• UK Synthetic Biology Strategic Plan 2016
• German Central Committee on Biological Safety (ZKBS) in 2018, German
regulatory framework, the applicable European Directives (2001/18/EC and
2009/41/EC)
• European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC)

32. The Synthetic Biology-Based Therapeutics
Summit gathers experts in therapeutic
development and synthetic biology research
to explore the foundational technologies,
applications in discovery, areas of unmet
medical need and potential applications of
synthetic biology-based therapeutics, and
together move therapeutic development
towards an engineering workflow.
International events of synthetic biology

33. International journals of synthetic biology

34. The ultimate goal of synthetic biology is to build novel biological systems that have
new functions or to engineer existing biological systems to have better efficiency.
With the many challenges to the understanding of natural biological systems, the rapid
progress of emerging tools for synthetic biology has begun to provide genomes for
applications in the areas of energy, health care, bio-chemicals, and the environment.
To prevent the risks and overcome with future challenges by countries by organizations
have established many rules, regulations, protocols and safeguards.
Conclusion

35. How will we use it !!!!

36. References
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Future Pandemics. ASM Journals. 11(6)
 Charbonneau M.R., Isabella V.M., Li N.,Kurtz C.B., 2020. Developing a new class of engineered live bacteria
therapeutics to treat human diseases. Nature Communications. 11(1738)
 Ekser, B., Li, P., & Cooper, D. (2017). Xenotransplantation: past, present, and future. Current opinion in organ
transplantation, 22(6), 513–521.
 El Karoui M, Hoyos-Flight M and Fletcher L (2019) Future Trends in Synthetic Biology—A Report. Frontiers in
Bioengineering and Biotechnology 7:175.
 Jiing-Kuan Yee, Ph.D. (Dept. of Virology, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope National Medical Center) © 2010
Nature Education
 Levskaya, A., Chevalier, A.A., Tabor, J.J., Simpson, Z.B., Lavery, L.A., Levy, M., Davidson, E.A., Scouras, A.,
Ellington, A.D., Marcotte, E.M. and Voigt, C.A., 2005. Engineering Escherichia coli to see light. Nature, 438(7067),
pp.441-442.
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synthetic biology in Asia. Advanced Genetics, 2(1), p.e10038.
 Nkoa, R., 2014. Agricultural benefits and environmental risks of soil fertilization with anaerobic digestates: a review.
Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 34(2), pp.473-492.
 Van Loo, E.J., Caputo, V. and Lusk, J.L., 2020. Consumer preferences for farm-raised meat, lab-grown meat, and plant-
based meat alternatives: Does information or brand matter?. Food Policy, 95, p.101931.
 Yee, J. (2010) Turning Somatic Cells into Pluripotent Stem Cells. Nature Education 3(9):25

37. Acknowledgement