Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2021
Synthetic biology: at the crossroads of genetic engineering and human therapeutics—a Keystone Symposia report
Article Link
Authors
Jennifer Cable
Joshua N Leonard
Timothy K Lu
Zhen Xie
Matthew Wook Chang
Luis Ángel Fernández
José M Lora
Howard L Kaufman
Francisco J Quintana
Roger Geiger
Cammie F Lesser
Jason P Lynch
David L Hava
Virginia W Cornish
Gary K Lee
Breanna DiAndreth
Michael Fero
Rajkamal Srivastava
Tim De Coster
Kole T Roybal
Owen JL Rackham
Samira Kiani
Iowis Zhu
Rogelio A Hernandez‐Lopez
Tingxi Guo
William CW Chen
Synthetic biology has the potential to transform cell- and gene-based therapies for a variety of diseases. Sophisticated tools are now available for both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells to engineer cells to selectively achieve therapeutic effects in response to one or more disease-related signals, thus sparing healthy tissue from potentially cytotoxic effects. This report summarizes the Keystone eSymposium “Synthetic Biology: At the Crossroads of Genetic Engineering and Human Therapeutics,” which took place on May 3 and 4, 2021. Given that several therapies engineered using synthetic biology have entered clinical trials, there was a clear need for a synthetic biology symposium that emphasizes the therapeutic applications of synthetic biology as opposed to the technical aspects. Presenters discussed the use of synthetic biology to improve T cell, gene, and viral therapies, to engineer probiotics, and to expand upon existing modalities and functions of cell-based therapies.
Also my talk was included in this report, detailing the BioICD concept and how synthetic biology and protein engineering could help create a permanent solution for heart rhythm disorders.
Journal info
Article type: Research article
Impact factor: 6.575
ISSN: 1749-6632
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences is an international science journal published monthly in many areas of science, though predominantly the biological sciences. Each issue presents original research articles and/or commissioned review, commentary, and perspective articles. Ann NY Acad Sci is a hybrid journal available in over 80 countries, rigorously peer-reviewed, and ranked among the top multidisciplinary journals worldwide.