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EASAC 

Realising European potential in synthetic biology | December 2010 |    5

The academies express their defi nition of synthetic biology 

in different ways but they agree on a core meaning: 

‘the deliberate (re)design and construction of novel 

biological systems to perform new functions, that draws 

on principles elucidated from biology and engineering’. 

At present, most synthetic biology is focused on microbes 

and embodies some key distinguishing characteristics:

•   Synthetic biology is a convergent fi eld, still in its 

infancy, incorporating knowledge from microbiology, 

genetics, genomics, chemistry, physics and IT as well 

as biology and engineering.

•   It encompasses the hierarchy of biological structures 

from individual molecules to cells, tissues and 

organisms. A variety of entities is generated—parts, 

devices, systems.

•   The manipulation of sets of genes is now routine 

in the leading international research centres. These 

capabilities will become more widespread as ever 

more rapid genome construction will become 

possible by the continuing methodological innovation 

and automation that is accelerating productivity and 

scale and reducing the cost of oligonucleotide and 

gene synthesis. Genome transplantation is likely to 

continue to be a signifi cant rate-limiting step.

•   Synthetic biology is free of the constraint on some 

earlier DNA research methods that only used genetic 

material from existing organisms.

•   The design is intended to be rational and systematic. 

The objective is to create functions that do not exist 

in nature, but also to increase our understanding of 

biology.

•   Further advances in synthetic biology will be aided 

by progressive understanding of the cell response to 

engineering. The reaction of organisms to oppose 

engineering presents a challenge to progress in some 

areas.

There are differing views on whether synthetic biology 

is a discrete fi eld and is radically different from what has 

gone before. Is it revolutionary or merely an incremental 

advance? Are the expectations of the fi eld unrealistically 

high, given the challenges inherent in understanding 

the complexity of living systems (Kwok 2010)? Some 

researchers and commentators see it as a natural 

and reasonable extension of genomics—a transition 

from reading to writing genome sequences. Others 

expect synthetic biology to be a truly transformational 

technology. It can be diffi cult to distinguish some 

current examples of synthetic biology unambiguously 

from recombinant DNA technology in general; the 

novel element in synthetic biology may often be one 

of scale. This present uncertainty in assessment of 

scope and impact of synthetic biology will be refl ected 

in subsequent discussion in this report and represents 

a challenge for identifying where new policy may be 

needed.

Although the boundaries may be blurred, the 

aspirations of synthetic biology in complex systems 

can be distinguished from genetic engineering, in 

that it more explicitly seeks to model and predict 

the outcomes of the experiments. Conceptually, 

synthetic biology aims to use components with 

known functions (standardised constructs) to 

design predictable systems. Synthetic biology with 

its focus on engineering new functions can also 

be distinguished from systems biology, where the 

emphasis is on the description and analysis of the 

dynamic interactions between components of a 

biological system (Academy of Medical Sciences 

and Royal Academy of Engineering 2007). However, 

there will be many occasions when the integration of 

synthetic and systems biology is necessary to advance 

research and its applications (Anon 2010): the ability 

to model and quantitatively predict biological effects 

in systems biology is complemented by the aim in 

synthetic biology to construct biological systems in 

order to understand them.

2 Defi nition and relationships with other scientifi c disciplines

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EASAC 

Realising European potential in synthetic biology | December 2010 |    7

Recent market research

4

 estimates that the current global 

market for synthetic biology is approximately US $230 

million, much of which is attributed to synthetic DNA 

and other reagents and tools. The same market research 

predicts that the world market could expand to US $2.4 

billion by 2013, with the chemical and energy sectors 

dominating.

Numerous specifi c applications have been postulated for 

medicine, agriculture, environment, energy, materials 

and national security—both new products and services 

and more effi cient production platforms. The timetable 

for delivery is not clear and much remains to be done 

to translate the advances in fundamental science into 

applications. It is notable that much of the discussion 

about possible impact has been framed in terms of the 

societal benefi ts rather than benefi ts to the producer. 

In this sense, the proponents of synthetic biology have 

learned a lesson from the poor uptake of an earlier 

emerging technology in genetically modifi ed (GM) 

agriculture, where public scepticism was based, in part, 

on a lack of immediate evidence for consumer benefi t. 

Some of the more likely applications are listed in Table 1.

As synthetic biology covers a broad technology domain, 

it is not easy to forecast which societal applications 

will surface fi rst although many commentators agree 

in expecting biofuel products within the near future. 

Synthetic biology can contribute to the objectives 

for developing second-generation biofuels to avoid 

competition with food production resources, for example 

in generating ethanol from agricultural waste and plant 

residues. A recent review (Sheridan 2009) lists some of 

the leading, smaller, innovative companies who are using 

advanced biological engineering to produce biofuels 

(ethanol, diesel, algal oils); most of these examples are 

from the USA although the UK and Denmark are also 

represented

6

. It is debatable whether these early activities 

can be considered to fall within mainstream defi nitions 

of synthetic biology. However, there have also been 

recent major advances in microbial engineering that 

enable the consolidation of many key reactions within 

a single strain of Escherichia coli to convert inexpensive 

biomass into both fatty-acid-based fuels (biodiesel) and 

other renewable chemicals. This recent work (Steen et al. 

2010) demonstrates the reduction to practice for scalable, 

controllable and, perhaps, economic routes to commercial 

production. In addition to these advances in complex 

microbial engineering, other synthetic biology approaches 

to biofuel R&D may become viable over a longer time-

frame, for example to produce hydrogen from water 

and solar energy using engineered microorganisms or 

biomimetic catalysts.

Other examples of the applications listed in Table 1 will be 

discussed in subsequent sections: in particular, there is a 

considerable amount of European research focusing on 

applications for the health sector.

4 

‘Synthetic biology: emerging global markets’, BCC Research, USA (June 2009), cited by Nelson (2009).

5  

Examples are drawn from the Academy outputs, POST (2008) and www.tessy-europe.eu. A recent review by Khalil and Collins 

(2010) also provides detailed information on a broad range of applications. In addition to the medical applications listed in 

Table 1, Khalil and Collins note the importance of synthetic biology approaches in devising new lead screening platforms and 

for engineering organisms as novel anti-infective (phages) and anti-cancer agents (bacteria).

6  

EU multinational companies such as Shell are also investing in algal oils. The European Algae Biomass Association (www.

eaba-association.eu) provides information on R&D activities, standards and product specifi cation and the legislative framework.

3  Envisaged societal applications

Table1  Examples of potential innovation

5

Societal impact

Proposed specifi c application

Medicine

Protein therapeutics, low-molecular weight drugs (e.g. antibiotics), 

vaccines, gene therapy; controlled release drug delivery systems and 

DNA-like polymers for location-specifi c drug release; tissue engineering; 

rapid, sensitive in vitro diagnostic tests and multi-chip detection arrays.

Energy

New microbes for generating hydrogen and other energy; second-

generation biofuels; artifi cial photosynthesis.

Environment

Detection of pollutants; bioremediation.

Chemical industry

Improved production platforms for fi ne and bulk chemicals; microbes 

engineered to produce proteins as alternative route to natural fi bre 

manufacturing and 1,3-propanediol, precursor of artifi cial fi bres.

National security

Biological weapon sensors.

Agriculture

Food additives.

Biologically inspired nanomachines and biosensors

Molecular-scale switches and other devices.

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