Synthetic Biology: How to change your genes

Invent: Life Sciences

What is the potential of synthetic biology? A chance to create life-changing therapies by speaking cells’ very own language? Or could rogue researchers use it to turn our own biology against us?

Since synthetic biology emerged as a field, the aspirations for its benefits have been as speculative as the concerns about its misuse, making one of the most fascinating and divisive fields in life sciences. But what are its real applications today? And where is it going next? In this episode of Invent: Life Sciences we break down the history of this field, focusing in how breakthroughs in our understanding of DNA allowed it to flourish, before assessing whether its applications today will live up to its incredible potential.

Find out more on this week's episode of Invent: Life Sciences from TTP.

This Week's Guests

Dr. Michael Chen
Michael is the CEO and founder of synthetic biology startup Nuclera. With a PHD in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge, Michael has ten years experience in scientific research, from nucleic acid chemistry to protein expression and crystallography, resulting in twelve published papers. Nuclera is the outcome of this work - it’s a company whose fundamental goal is to make biology accessible, through their groundbreaking desktop bioprinter, which combines eProtein synthesis and eDrop digital microfluidics, to enable protein printing within 24 hours.
https://www.nuclera.com/

Dr. Gary M. Skinner
Gary is a consultant in applied biophysics at TTP, and his research focuses on various fields within the syn bio space. In his career, Gary has worked everywhere from York to Arizona to the Netherlands on projects as far afield as using optical tweezers to observe initiation of transcription of DNA, to applying super-resolution imaging technology to DNA sequencing.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gmskinnerbioscience/

Professor Tom Ellis

Tom is a Professor of Synthetic Genome Engineering at Imperial College London. He currently leads a research team in synthetic genome engineering and synthetic biology in the Department of Bioengineering. His research, for which he has one multiple awards, focuses on developing the foundational tools for accelerating, automating and scaling design-led synthetic genomics and synthetic biology.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomellisphd/

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