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Kenna Allison
Professor Martinez
ENC 1102
18 October 2012
Inquiry Paper
Introduction
After exploring genres common to the field of biology through a preliminary genre
analysis, I continued analyzing the language and genres of my field by tracing an argument
relevant to biologists. I gathered articles relating to the connection between the attitudes towards
synthetic biology, the research that synthetic biology has currently discovered, and the perpetual
impact that continuing research within the field can make. I found academic articles relating to
this topic, and traced the arguments and patterns common to these articles. Through my research,
I have found sources claiming that synthetic biology will indubitably play a vital role within our
society towards global progression. (Collins 2012; Reiss 2012; Hodgman, Jewett 2012; Carrara,
et al. 2012; Carrera, et al. 2012; Vinson, Pennisi 2011; Fierrez, et al. 2012) and others who claim
that synthetic biology is an uncertain field that questions humanity’s ethics (Schmidt and
Lorenzo, 2012; Fierrez, et al. 2012; McKay, et al. 2012).
These sources have helped me to identify the various aspects of this issue in relation to
the field of biology. In addition, these articles have helped me continue exploring the genre
conventions that I will need to learn as I enter a new community through my major. I decided to
explore this topic because synthetic biology is a flourishing field that can benefit our world
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greatly—it has the potential to discover cures for currently terminal diseases, internationally end
world hunger, as well as improve the human race and its structure overall. The topic of analysis
structures is important to my field because synthetic biology can have an extremely vital impact
on the medical field, as well as many other fields of science. Through analyzing this topic, I am
able to learn about and understand the possibilities that this new research is providing, as well as
the reasons to why funding for this research is constantly questioned. Through exploring
synthetic biology, I am able to improve my understanding of both biology and chemistry.
Delving into the study of synthetic biology has given me questions and concerns, but also an
overall appreciation for the sciences, encouraging me to study even further.
Synthetic Biology’s Role Toward Global Progression
Synthetic biology has played a vital role in the each field of science. Not only has it
provided new questions to research for medicine, chemistry, engineering, etc., it has also
provided new evidence towards what these fields have currently been studying. Synthetic
biological research has made impacts already in many fields; however, the progression is too
quick for society to understand, but not to look forward to. There have been many impacts that
synthetic biology has already made within the medical field; for example, from altering human
genomes to avoid defects to helping fix human metabolic rates. Dr. James Collins explains that
synthetic biology will have an important effect on “many major global problems, such as famine,
disease and energy shortages, and have potential solutions in the world of engineered cells”
(Collins 2012). Synthetic biology will be able to play a key part in the improvement of many
world problems; and, furthermore, it will be able to push the boundaries that we did not know
existed before (Hodgman, et al 2012). In the process of addressing world famine in underdeveloped countries, genetic engineers have the ability to create food crops cheaply. Through
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altering the foods genomes and adding extra-nutrients to these food crops, these crops will be
more accessible to the majority and they will be more efficient in their provided nutrients. If this
is done, for example, just by adding several vitamins from other organisms to these food crops,
then the countless people currently dying from hunger and malnutrition will have a significantly
better chance (Collins 2012). Many authors have come to the concise conclusion that synthetic
biology is fundamental to improving our world. Synthetic biology, however, is still seen as a
discipline, for it makes interdisciplinary attempts in order to enable the re-design of nature,
medicine, engineering, and the architecture of life forms. Reiss claims that the future research of
synthetic biology is about the implementation of materials and architectures into living matters,
in view of increasing robustness, but in parallel to understand the underlying concepts of life”
(Reiss 2012). Both Collins and Carrara et al. agree on the attempts to discover advancements in
these fields through injecting and manipulating cellular forms. Carrara et al. discuss the
technological advancements that have been made within synthetic biology. There have been
proteins injected into cell-like systems to create biochemical machinery for signaling molecule
production for decoding. Through injections, these cell-like structures are able to be maneuvered
and controlled to generate altered, improved cell-like systems (Carrara, et al. 2012). In another
area, Vinson and Pennisi discuss how researchers in synthetic biology are now discovering
alternative fuel sources, just as Collins had mentioned, through easily attainable resources, such
as algae. These alternative fuels, also called “biofuels,” are becoming necessary as our world
slowly runs out of the sources that have been used for decades. These biofuels are clean, cheap,
and a renewable source of energy; and they are all a result of manipulating bacteria and microbes
(Vinson and Pennisi 2012). The researcher Fierrez discusses the synthetic generation of
algorithmic problems, designed to present many different applications in the ability to research;
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such as “performance estimation, security evaluation in order to test existing biometric solutions
against fraudulent access attempts, individuality studies, or for synthetically increasing the amount of
enrollment data in order to improve the performance of a given application” (Fierrez, et al. 2012). A very
important part of synthetic biology that is currently being researched is the creation of new, synthetic
organs and organelles. Carrera, and others, go in depth on the research that has currently been made,
such as synthetic hearts and lungs. Though these organs are still under comprehensive study and
research, these scientists are working their way to greatly improving the medical field. As Carrera, and
other researchers, explain, “All
in all, the final expected outcome would be a platform that will
help synthetic biologists to design the regulatory systems to engineer the future synthetic cells.
Ideally, this platform would input a set of specifications, in the form of human-readable
programs, and would output a biological model together with its compilation into a reliable DNA
sequence” (Carrera, et al. 2012).
The Question of Ethics
Synthetic biology, no matter how much research can claim about its positive impacts, will
always be questioned by ethics. What if we cannot control what we create? What if synthetic
biological research falls into the wrong hands? What physical and non-physical harms will
synthetic biology have upon our society? Markus Schmidt and Victor Lorenzo both describe the
great important of the potential harms that synthetic biology can have on the environment.
Considering that manipulating and controlling bacteria is a very complicated task, the potential
of bacteria escaping the lab is always a possibility. The release of thoroughly engineered,
modified, or even entirely synthetic/artificial microorganisms raises the complications of their
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intentional or accidental interaction with the environment and society. These researchers say
with great concern that “the ease of DNA synthesis and the uncertainty on how non-natural properties
and strains could interplay with the existing biological word poses yet again the challenge of designing
safe and efficacious firewalls to curtail possible interactions” (Schmidt and Lorenzo 2012). Fierrez,
reluctantly agrees with Schmidt and Lorenzo, about the problems that arise within synthetic biology.
Fierrez may acknowledge the many positive impacts of this field; however, he finds the questions that are
raised are more concerning than the potential advantages and applications of synthetic biology. Though
manipulating the cellular patterns of humans can provide many advantages in the future towards
alterations and improvements, there are still many problems that come along with this research. “In spite
of their advantages and potential applications, the generation of realistic synthetic biometric data still
represents a very complex pattern recognition problem: modeling the information contained in a certain
biometric trait as well as the inter-class and intra-class variation found in real databases (i.e., variation
between samples of different subjects, and variation between samples of the same subject)” (Fierrez, et
al. 2012). While there is surely more work to do in conceptualizing the potential harms that synthetic
biology can have on our world, by waiting for the answers, research will come to an abrupt halt. The
problem that arises with this is: What if we never find these answers? Synthetic biology is a field that will
constantly be questioned; yet these questions can only be answered by using synthetic biology. Without
the application of this study, the answers for ethical questions can never be answered, because
researchers and scientists cannot be sure (McKay, et al 2012).
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Conclusion
My sources have covered the vast amount of amazing possibilities, as well as ethical
dilemmas that synthetic biology perpetually provides for our world. These sources have shown
its readers all of the positive impacts, such as curing terminal diseases and ending world hunger,
synthetic biology is working towards; nevertheless, the scientific community has not shied away
from acknowledging the potential dangers of synthetic biology and life forms, whereas many
international conferences and ethical debates have been made. There are constantly going to
questions upon the ethics of synthetic biology, but these questions come with every other field of
science; for example, stem-cell research, genetics, neuroscience, and nanotechnology.
These sources have been a very helpful guide to introducing the subject of synthetic
biology; however, these sources have not covered all of the areas that synthetic biology can
impact, nor have they covered all of the ethical debates that are being consistently being
questioned. If I were to continue exploring this topic as a researcher, I would look more into the
health aspects that synthetic biology will bring about. Even though synthetic biology can provide
much for our world, there are still many unanswered questions that come about. The potential of
synthetic life forms is a very big topic that was not covered in many of my articles, and this area
is the most controversial area that synthetic biology provides. I still have many unanswered
questions, such as: What physical and non-physical harms will synthetic biology have upon our
world? Will researchers and scientists truly be able to control what they create? Considering
synthetic biology can be used to create biological weapons, what if these bio-weapons fall into
the wrong hands? Synthetic biology will always raise concerns within our world, because it is
progressing too fast for society to be able to grasp.
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Works Cited
Carrara, Paolo, Luisa Damiano, Livia Leoni, et al. “Semi-synthetic minimal cells as a tool for
biochemical ICT.” Biosystems. Vol. 109, Issue 1 (2012): 24-34. UCF Library Database. Web. 1
Oct. 2012.
Carrera, Javier, Thomas E. Landrain, Alfonso Jaramillo, and Guillermo Rodrigo. “Perspectives
on the automatic design of regulatory systems for synthetic biology.” FEBS Letters. Vol. 586,
Issue 15 (2012): 2037-2042. UCF Library Database. Web. 1 Oct. 2012.
Collins, James. “Synthetic Biology: Bits and Pieces Come to Life.” Nature: The International
Weekly Journal of Science.
Vol. 483 (2012): S8-S10. UCF Library Database. Web. 9 Sep.
2012.
Hodgman, C. Eric, and Michael C. Jewett. “Cell-free synthetic biology: Thinking outside the
cell.” Metabolic Engineering. Vol. 14 Issue 3 (2012): 261-269. UCF Library Database. Web. 1
Oct. 2012.
Lorenzo, Victor, and Markus Schmidt. “Synthetic Constructs in/for the environment: Managing
the interplay between natural and engineered Biology.” FEBS Letters. Vol. 586, Issue 15 (2012):
2199-2206. UCF Library Database. Web. 1 Oct. 2012.
McKay, Christopher, Jacob Moses, Margaret S. Race, and Kasthuri J. Venkateswaran. “Synthetic
Biology in space: Considering the broad societal and ethical implications.” International Journal
of Astrobiology. Vol. 11, Issue 2 (2012): 133-139. UCF Library Database. Web. 1 Oct 2012.
Pennisi, Elizabeth and Valda Vinson. “The Allure of Synthetic Biology.” Science Magazine.
Vol. 333 (2011): no. 6047. UCF Library Database. Web. 9 Sep. 2012.
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Reiss, Thomas and Wilhelm Just. “Synthetic Biology, Inspired by Synthetic Chemistry.” FEBS
(Federation of European Biochemical Sciences) Letters. Vol. 586, Issue 15 (2012): 2146. UCF
Library Database. Web. 9 Sep 2012.