Synthetic Biology

Catalog description

This interdisciplinary course explores how scientists are working to engineer living organisms. This work includes experimental manipulation to modify individual genes, add foreign genes from other organisms, and construct living systems from non-living components. In this way, organisms are redesigned for useful purposes by engineering them to have new abilities. The course will cover the biological background of gene regulation and experimental methods for the construction of gene circuits. It will also explore practical examples of synthetic biology from medicine, manufacturing, and agriculture. In addition, students will address potential ethical issues that might arise with the construction of entities that fall somewhere between living things and machines or between humans and other organisms. (Prerequisite: BIOL301)