Synthetic Biology

BioBricking in Microbes

Alistair Elfick & Chris French

University of Edinburgh, UK
 

Research interests

Synthetic Biology is an emergent discipline in which we undertake to rationally design and fabricate biological devices which show some desired functionality. SynBio draws heavily on the engineering design process and notions of abstraction and standardisation. I am an instructor on the Edinburgh iGEM team and Director of one of the recently funded BBSRC Networks in Synthetic Biology.

Email

Website: University of Edinburgh

Speaker abstract

The term BioBrick relates to a genetic part with a defined prefix and suffix which facilitates its rapid assembly with other BioBrick parts. There now exist a number of assembly standards which offer a range of user benefits but not without limitations. The current landscape in BioBricking will be surveyed and the options available to the Synthetic Biologist summarised. The BioBricking approach then lends itself to a certain types of activities. The power of this approach will be demonstrated in one such application; the exploration of synergy in enzymatic activity.

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