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Synthetic Biology and (Re)productive Liberties: Biosecurity, Biosecrecy, and Regulating New Technologies with Futures in Mind

Robin Mackenzie

in Law and Bioethics: Current Legal Issues Volume 11

This chapter aims to map relatively unexplored territories within the discursive environment surrounding the ethics and regulation of (re)productive liberties associated with synthetic biology. It ... More

This chapter aims to map relatively unexplored territories within the discursive environment surrounding the ethics and regulation of (re)productive liberties associated with synthetic biology. It argues that new technologies place an obligation upon us to regulate with possible futures in mind. Reading path-dependence as opportunity cost, if the adverse consequences of unfortunate choices are to be minimized, we must engage in the continuous iterative evaluations of regulatory structures variously characterized in terms of being ‘smart’ regulation or the denaturalization of biorisk.Less

Synthetic Biology: Theological Questions about Biological Engineering

Ronald Cole-Turner

in Without Nature?: A New Condition for Theology

The disappearance of nature as a normative framework for human thought and action is nowhere more tangibly felt than in the context of contemporary biological engineering. ... More

The disappearance of nature as a normative framework for human thought and action is nowhere more tangibly felt than in the context of contemporary biological engineering. Biological engineering, or “synthetic biology,” as it is often called to distinguish it from genetic engineering, functions precisely on the boundary between natural and artificial, living and nonliving, organic and synthetic. On the one hand, like any technology, synthetic biology must work in and with nature. It operates entirely within the sphere of living nature: biological systems from metabolic pathways to ecosystems. But the whole point of synthetic biology is to synthesize nature, to replace it with an engineered surrogate. When we take up the field of synthetic biology, nature may still be the matrix and the premise but it is hardly the norm or the telos of our actions. The first section of this chapter attempts to define and locate the field of synthetic biology within the context of recent work in the biological sciences. The second section describes a broader cultural and social context in which synthetic biology is being developed, first by reviewing some of the ethics discussion that has already arisen about this new field and then by turning to theological considerations about its religious and philosophical implications.Less

Introductory Concepts

Domitilla Del Vecchio and Richard M. Murray

in Biomolecular Feedback Systems

This chapter provides a brief introduction to concepts from systems biology; tools from differential equations and control theory; and approaches to the modeling, analysis, and design of biomolecular ... More

This chapter provides a brief introduction to concepts from systems biology; tools from differential equations and control theory; and approaches to the modeling, analysis, and design of biomolecular feedback systems. It begins with a discussion of the role of modeling, analysis, and feedback in biological systems. This is followed by a short review of key concepts and tools from control and dynamical systems theory, which is intended to provide insight into the main methodology described in this volume. Finally, this chapter gives another brief introduction—this time to the field of synthetic biology, which is the primary topic of the latter portion of this book.Less

Genetically Modified Pathogens

William R. Clark

in Bracing for Armageddon?: The Science and Politics of Bioterrorism in America

It is likely that within not too many years, we will have effectively neutralized most if not all of the CDC A-list agents as potential bioterror weapons. But for some time now scientists have been ... More

It is likely that within not too many years, we will have effectively neutralized most if not all of the CDC A-list agents as potential bioterror weapons. But for some time now scientists have been asking what the next generation of bioweapons might look like, and how we can prepare ourselves to defend against them. It is now possible, using molecular biology techniques, to genetically alter existing pathogens to make them more deadly, easier to weaponize, more resistant to drugs or vaccines, or even to create new pathogens that have not existed before. Chapter 4 looks at what has been done to date along these lines, and possibilities for the future. In addition to inserting extra toxic genes into pathogens, researchers have been able to rebuild in the laboratory copies of the extremely deadly 1918 flu virus. Such research is beginning to worry many people, and may be in violation of exisiting bioweapons treaties.Less

Nature in the Factory: Synthetic Biology

Gregory E. Kaebnick

in Humans in Nature: The World As We Find It and the World As We Create It

This chapter considers canvasses and evaluates claims that synthetic biology—the application of the principles of engineering to biological systems—is intrinsically concerning. It first briefly ... More

This chapter considers canvasses and evaluates claims that synthetic biology—the application of the principles of engineering to biological systems—is intrinsically concerning. It first briefly reviews the disparate lines of research referred to as synthetic biology. The objections considered include concerns that synthetic biology will enforce a reductionist view of life, that it violates the proper human role in the cosmos (that it is “playing God”), that it does not conform to the meaning of life, and that it is not true to the value of nature. The chapter argues, however, that none of these positions is compelling.Less

Introduction

Gregory E. Kaebnick and Thomas H. Murray

in Synthetic Biology and Morality: Artificial Life and the Bounds of Nature

The Introduction contextualizes the purpose of the book, which is to discuss the ethical questions and concerns that arise in synthetic biology about the idea of creating a “synthetic cell.” ... More

The Introduction contextualizes the purpose of the book, which is to discuss the ethical questions and concerns that arise in synthetic biology about the idea of creating a “synthetic cell.” Synthetic biology has wider implications for the human relationship to the natural world, because discoveries like the M. mycoides cell at the J. Craig Venter Institute show a degree of human control over the basic mechanisms of life that humans have never attained before. Ideas that will be addressed in the book about the potential for synthetic biology and the moral and ethical debates around it are introduced.Less

Creating Life: Synthetic Biology and Ethics

Joachim Boldt

in Synthetic Biology and Morality: Artificial Life and the Bounds of Nature

This chapter assesses the development of synthetic biology, and the idea that in comparison to genetic engineering, synthetic biology represents the shift away from the paradigm of observational ... More

This chapter assesses the development of synthetic biology, and the idea that in comparison to genetic engineering, synthetic biology represents the shift away from the paradigm of observational analysis and manipulating existing organisms, to the ability to build, initiate, and direct DNA-based processes. It highlights the ethical significance and debate surrounding synthetic biology and creating novel entities, and sees synthetic biology as spearheading scientific progress.Less

Engineered Microbes in Industry and Science: A New Human Relationship to Nature?

Gregory E. Kaebnick

in Synthetic Biology and Morality: Artificial Life and the Bounds of Nature

If synthetic biology represents an important step forward in the human ability to design, build, and use living organisms, how does this change the human relationship to nature? Does it lead to ... More

If synthetic biology represents an important step forward in the human ability to design, build, and use living organisms, how does this change the human relationship to nature? Does it lead to humans “playing God” with nature? This chapter addresses moral and philosophical concerns about whether synthetic biology and investigation into life leads to human over-confidence in understanding, changing, and potentially damaging nature and argues that it does not lead to a devaluing of life. The varying levels of influence these concerns could have on public policy are discussed.Less

“Teaching Humanness” Claims in Synthetic Biology and Public Policy Bioethics

John H. Evans

in Synthetic Biology and Morality: Artificial Life and the Bounds of Nature

It has been claimed in public policy bioethics that synthetic biology will teach people to accept a different notion of what it means to be human, and generate a shift in self-perception. This ... More

It has been claimed in public policy bioethics that synthetic biology will teach people to accept a different notion of what it means to be human, and generate a shift in self-perception. This chapter discusses “teaching humanness” claims made about other scientific innovations as well as synthetic biology, and why these claims are ignored as people are unsure how to evaluate their legitimacy. It examines these claims and discusses the ethical options if they were found to be legitimate.Less

Response to Commentaries

Gregory Kaebnick

in The Future of Bioethics: International Dialogues

The commentaries raise questions about the appropriate intellectual property framework and the appropriate moral framework for synthetic biology. These are both important issues. Among the issues ... More

The commentaries raise questions about the appropriate intellectual property framework and the appropriate moral framework for synthetic biology. These are both important issues. Among the issues raised by the intellectual property framework are concerns analogous to those raised by “bioprospecting.” A moral framework for synthetic biology is probably not best understood as a framework that is unique to synthetic biology, but as an extension of the frameworks that have been developed for other biotechnologies.Less

Biotechnology as Cultural Meaning: Reflections on the Moral Reception of Synthetic Biology

Bruce Jennings

in Synthetic Biology and Morality: Artificial Life and the Bounds of Nature

This chapter focuses on the moral and ethical reception of biotechnology in society and the contested cultural and social meanings of synthetic biology as well as concerns about it. As this chapter ... More

This chapter focuses on the moral and ethical reception of biotechnology in society and the contested cultural and social meanings of synthetic biology as well as concerns about it. As this chapter highlights, these factors play a key role in shaping science policy, as governance in a democracy is based not only on expert knowledge and opinion, but on broader public perception and legitimacy.Less

Commentary: Before the Dawn of Ethics in Synthetic Biology

Osamu Kanamori

in The Future of Bioethics: International Dialogues

In this commentary, the author argues that artificially and intentionally provoked disasters are hardly justified. As such, the design and realization of synthetic organisms must naturally ... More

In this commentary, the author argues that artificially and intentionally provoked disasters are hardly justified. As such, the design and realization of synthetic organisms must naturally incorporate deliberate consideration and regulation. This is especially true because the organism as a whole moves and grows in an uncontrollable manner when released in a given environment. At the same time, we must consider the manner in which human beings actively and constructively attempt to improve their lives when presented with insufficient conditions of nature, by ameliorating other organisms through processes such as the domestication of wild animals. In this larger context, proper characteristics of synthetic biology become less clear, and we must revisit our tendency towards modification of organisms in general. Regardless, given its rather inchoative nature, it is certainly premature to talk of “an ethics of synthetic biology.”Less

Primary Topic ArticleThe Ethical Issues of Synthetic Biology

Gregory Kaebnick

in The Future of Bioethics: International Dialogues

Synthetic biology refers to a set of technological advances that seek to bring the principles of engineering to bear on the field of biology and make possible the construction of organisms that serve ... More

Synthetic biology refers to a set of technological advances that seek to bring the principles of engineering to bear on the field of biology and make possible the construction of organisms that serve various human ends. It has potentially very significant benefits, but it also poses a variety of questions that will be a challenge to evaluate fully and to address in public policies. Is the synthesis of organisms intrinsically troubling, and should any concerns about the synthesis of organisms affect public policy? How should we strike the right balance between risks and benefits? How do we—indeed, how can we—ensure that the changes wrought by the field are just and environmentally beneficial? How do we manage risks in light of the complexity of microorganisms and ecosystems? This paper outlines the growth of the field of synthetic biology and develop some of the questions that arise in it.Less

Protocell Patents: Property Between Modularity and Emergence

Alain Pottage

in The Ethics of Protocells: Moral and Social Implications of Creating Life in the Laboratory

This chapter determines some distinctive aspects of protocell patents, and explores how protocell patents disturb the political and institutional foundations of the current intellectual property ... More

This chapter determines some distinctive aspects of protocell patents, and explores how protocell patents disturb the political and institutional foundations of the current intellectual property practices. It shows that the Mycoplasma laboratorium patent application looks like an instrument of bad modularity, or an example of precisely the kind of patenting strategy that the open-source biology movement seeks to mitigate or overcome. This chapter suggests that the hierarchies of synthetic biology are complicated by a legal technique that makes the modularity and granularity of parts dependent on the institutional negotiations through which recursive trajectories of innovation are patterned.Less

Human Practices: Interfacing Three Modes of Collaboration

Paul Rabinow and Gaymon Bennett

in The Ethics of Protocells: Moral and Social Implications of Creating Life in the Laboratory

This chapter explores the two main existing modes in which professional ethicists interface with the scientific, regulatory, and policymaking communities, and advocates adopting a new, third mode of ... More

This chapter explores the two main existing modes in which professional ethicists interface with the scientific, regulatory, and policymaking communities, and advocates adopting a new, third mode of interaction that is especially appropriate for synthetic biology. It analyzes the existing modes of interaction and engagement between and among the human sciences, the biosciences, ethics, and organizational forms. It examines three predominant modes of engagement: the representation of technical experts, the facilitation of “science and society,” as well as inquiry and equipment. This chapter is oriented toward understanding how potentially viable design strategies emerge, how these strategies might inform synthetic biology, and what efforts are undertaken to integrate them into a comprehensive approach to the near future.Less

Appeals to Nature and the Natural in Debates about Synthetic Biology

Andrew Lustig

in Synthetic Biology and Morality: Artificial Life and the Bounds of Nature

This chapter examines appeals to nature and their relevance to public policy debates about whether to ban, regulate, or support synthetic biology. The key religious, philosophical, and moral concerns ... More

This chapter examines appeals to nature and their relevance to public policy debates about whether to ban, regulate, or support synthetic biology. The key religious, philosophical, and moral concerns which invoke the language of “playing God” have deep cultural roots. They express the idea that certain boundaries in nature are “off limits𠄭 to human action and ambition, reserved as “God's domain.” As this chapter argues, these boundaries between the organic and the synthetic are no longer clear or fixed. Other interpretations of religious teachings see humans as “created co-creators” with God, enhancing and restoring nature. Additionally, the interaction between human culture and nature has taken place since the beginning of organized agriculture.Less

Threats to the CBW Prohibition Regimes: The Revolution in the Life Sciences

in Preventing a Biochemical Arms Race

This chapter addresses developments in science and technology that have particular implications for biosecurity. It concentrates on functional genomics, synthetic biology, systems biology, ... More

This chapter addresses developments in science and technology that have particular implications for biosecurity. It concentrates on functional genomics, synthetic biology, systems biology, nanotechnology, and targeted delivery systems. New advancement in the methodology of genome analyses led to the easier manipulation of complex viruses that fit designer specifications. Engineering DNA-based biological circuits by using standardized biological parts, identifying the smallest possible (minimal) genome that can “run” a cell, constructing protocells, and creating atypical biological systems through chemical processes are different subfields of synthetic biology that have grown since the early years of the twenty-first century. It is observed that mid-spectrum agents proved to be a serious threat. Combined with new methods for making substances absorbable through the nasal and respiratory tracts and across the blood-brain barrier, the development of defined nanoparticles enhanced significantly the aerosol delivery of bioactive compounds.Less