Synthetic biology (SynBio) is a multidisciplinary field that focuses on living systems and organisms, and it applies engineering principles to redesign natural biological parts, devices and systems, or to develop new one entirely. Synthetic biology has two main goals: (1) understanding natural biological systems by (re-)engineering similar ones, and (2) enabling practical applications to foster the human condition, such as for medicine, manufacturing, ecology, and agriculture. In this course, we will study the principles for rationally engineering and controlling synthetic gene circuits all the way up to complex synthetic multicellular systems. We will read and discuss key foundational papers of the field. We will discuss applications as mentioned above as well as the societal and ethical implications of synthetic biology. We will introduce and use the Python programming language as a key synthetic biology tool for simulation, analysis, and design. Students will also gain deeper understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of science and engineering.
Instructor(s)
- Ingmar Riedel-Kruse