Synthetic Biology: Amplifying Throughput in Discovery at Marginal Cost

An example of the looming power of synthetic biology, one of its first start-ups, Codon Devices, is providing researchers with hundreds of specified protein variants using automated, microarray-based fabrication methods. Its platform could help address pharma's productivity problem by decreasing the size of a discovery pipeline and shrinking the development timeline, and position the company to negotiate downstream payments for its efforts based on the success of clients' development programs.

The relatively new bio-buzzwords synthetic biology and synthetic genomics refer to processes for designing and building biological parts, devices, and integrated biological systems as well as the technologies that enable such work—in other words, duplicating the production and function of genes, proteins, and cells. To some, those goals conjure up unwanted visions of artificial life, the unwise crossing of the threshold of creation, and an inevitable "dual use" of such technology to engineer devastating biothreats. Others, however, see the endeavors as the consequential development of a better parts list for molecular biology and protein engineering.

"To talk about a synthetic genome today is to talk about a reasonably distant goal that can excite and mobilize...

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