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Synthetic biology

The drive to develop “a technology of the living substance” has fascinated scientist for centuries and has led to several moments in history when scientists claimed they were about to “create life in a test tube”, produce “synthetic new species”, or otherwise engage in the engineering of genes and chromosomes. Synthetic biology takes an engineering approach to building artificial biological systems, taking the tools and experimental techniques of genetic engineering to a new level. The focus is often on ways of taking parts of natural biological systems, characterizing and simplifying them, and using them as a component of a highly unnatural, engineered, biological system. The individual parts are standardized by engineers to facilitate exchange and reuse of parts, for example as DNA BioBricks. Synthetic biology already has many accomplishments to its credit.

iGEM

The International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM) is the premiere undergraduate synthetic biology competition, first held in 2003. Student teams are given a kit of biological parts from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. They will make use of known BioBricks and develop new BioBricks that will be added to the registry. The organization promotes the advancement of science and education by developing an open community of students and practitioners in schools, laboratories, research institutes and industry. The research described in this article is part of the research done by the iGEM team of the Eindhoven University of Technology in 2012 and will be presented at the European iGEM Jamboree on 5-7 October 2012. Hopefully the team will also be invited to present the research during the World Championship Jamboree at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.