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As the number and complexity of parts grow, both students and industry and academic scientists can make ever-more-complicated designs. The machines entered in the 2006 iGEM competition have doubled in size in the past two years, from about 6,000 to 12,000 letters of DNA. "These [projects] represent the largest designed genetic systems that have ever been developed," says Chris Voigt, a bioengineer at the University of California, San Francisco, who is advising one of the student teams. "Understanding how to push the size and complexity of these systems is what is going to have an impact."
Entries in this year's competition come from as far away as Africa and Japan, and will include a range of strange creations. Some are practical, such as a biosensor that can detect arsenic concentrations for use in tainted wells. Others are more whimsical, such as a bacterial night-light that glows when it gets dark. The oddest creation, perhaps, is the entry from the University of Freiberg, in Germany: a microscopic, DNA-based clothing line, christened "Barbie Nanoatelier" by the team.
Synthetic biology could yield microbes that fight cavities and produce vitamins.
Where is the government again?
I am excited about this being able to regulate possible organic creations by standardizing and organizing such data for control of our future but also for safety as well BUT where is the safety here in this experiment and project.
Something like this is dangerous to the extreme as someone could just put it in a grocery store and noone would ever know where it came from. By then it's too late. Before some experiments with deadly bacteria in this way there needs to be government controls so where are they?
Re: Where is the government again?
We can't control or predict how anything we say, think, invent, produce or discover is going to be used, misused, or abused by other people around the globe now and in the future. Technology you suppress or regulate now could, under certain conditions, conceivably have lead to a life affirming or life saving techonology. If you think that 'government' A) has a handle on what is good for the future and B) is in any position to affect individual action on a global scale then you may need to reconsider your position. The perfect example of this is the handgun. This technology is perhaps the ultimate WMD and yet it is also big business in many countries and essentially uncontrollable. Yet the US Consitution protects each individual's right to own this technology because at one time this was considered 'prudent'. I end with a quote from Victor Frankl: "So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do."
Re: Where is the government again?
I sure sympathize with the alarm at changing the odor of E Coli! the researchers certainly should have taken extravagant care to prevent any getting "loose" and hopefully they did . . also they should have said so; unfortunately they did not . . whatever corrections are needed should be implemented and reported on pronto. Can they imagine the happiness some lawyers will display at the idea of putting them out of business? But even worse is the baby-cry demand for govt regulations. Of all the dangers we face, NONE is as deadly as being comfortable with government regulation.
Re: Where is the government again?
In most, if not all the countries that participated, there are strict laws in experimenting with recombinant organisms. In the US, these experiments fall under the standard rules for handling experimental organisms. All the work is done is certified laboratories.
Re: Where is the government again?
Whatever nation's government agency is looking over anyone and everyone's shoulder in the future, let's simply hope the G-Man personel doing the looking are "more ethical" than the average Joe Blow the pedestrian. If one can be assured that all G-men and women can be trusted, than yes, a G-person can look over my shoulder anytime they want. And let's set up this watchdog agency NOW.
I don't know if even I am comfortable with this last paragraph of thought. To simply hope for the best seems to be an idiotic thought, though. The potential for catastrophe is enormous. I want to trust, but this is difficult.
Guest (microbeach)
changing the scent of bacteria
If done properly this could eventually lead to the identification of bacteria causing disease by their smell.
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37 Comments
wonderful stuff
BUT - who is controlling what can be done and how the results are used - it all sounds very much like our next nightmare in the making - watch out they may get up and break their way out of the test-tube (:>)
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