Interdisciplinary branch of biology and engineering
Interdisciplinary branch of biology and engineering, applying multiple disciplines to build artificial biological systems for research, engineering, and medical applications.
Synthetic biology is the design and engineering of biologically based parts, novel devices and systems as well as the redesign of existing, natural biological systems. It has the potential to deliver important new applications and improve existing industrial processes - resulting in economic growth and job creation.
As a multidisciplinary field, synthetic biology brings together social scientists, biologists, chemists, engineers, mathematicians, and others to identify major challenges in society and collectively find solutions.
An article published in Nature reports the first genetic circuits had been engineered to carry out designed functions using a genetic toggle switch. Cells that harbored the circuit could toggle between two stable expression states in response to external signals.
With the repressilator, activation of an oscillatory circuit resulted in the ordered, periodic oscillation or repressor protein expression.
These studies combined quantitative design, physical construction, experimental measurement, and hypothesis-driven debugging to construct synthetic circuits, which became a characteristic feature of constructing synthetic circuits.
Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans, and Hamilton Smith share the 1978 Nobel Prize "for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics." A November 1978 editorial in Gene states, "The work on restriction nucleases not only permits us easily to construct recombinant DNA molecules and to analyze individual genes but also has led us into the new era of 'synthetic biology' where not only existing genes are described and analyzed but also new gene arrangements can be constructed and evaluated.
Velocia is an open network for mobility using loyalty & user acquisition rewards to incentivize specific mobility choices and data sharing.
Velocia mobility-as-a-service network that allows mobility participants to reward and leverage direct connections with end uses and operators. Participants include automotive OEMs, public transit operators and planning agencies, taxi companies, mobility apps (ridesharing, vehicle-sharing, deliveries), and insurance companies.
Velocia introduces three essential innovations that leverage blockchain technology:
The Velocia network's stated goals are to enable interoperability across all mobility verticals, drive healthier data practices, and reward better economic, societal, and environmental choices.
David Winterstein
VP, Ecosystem Development
Greg Boutin
COO
Hamid Akrabi
CEO
Reza Azimi
CTO
Velocia is an open network for mobility using loyalty & user acquisition rewards to incentivize specific mobility choices and data sharing.
As of 2018, the CDL has eight streams across its six locations:
The primary objective of tissue engineering is to understand the principles of tissue growth and to apply this to produce functional replacement tissue. Such tissue can be used to restore, maintain, or improve damaged tissues or whole organs. By 2005, engineered artificial skin and cartilage tissues had been approved by the FDA, however had limited use in human patients.
Tissue engineering is a subset of regenerative medicine, a field which deals with the process of replacing, engineering, or regenerating biological units to (re-)establish normal function using the body's self-healing capabilities. Tissue engineering focuses on cures, rather than treatments, for diseases related to biological tissues.
The field is multidisciplinary in nature, requiring collaborations between cell and molecular biology, clinicians, materials scientists, mathematicians, and more. For example, mathematical models are used to form a holistic understanding of complex biological processes in evolving tissues. The combination of biomimetic materials science and stem-cell biology with mathematical models is used to determine which tissue engineering strategies are most likely to be successful. Such an integration of mathematical models with experimentation in an iterative framework where each informs the other offers a way to better understand tissue regeneration.
How it works
Cells are the building blocks of tissues. Groups of cells make their own support structures, called extra-cellular matrices, or scaffolds. Scaffolds mechanically support cells and act as a relay station for various signaling molecules in the body. When a signal is received, it initiates a chain of responses that affect the cell. By better understanding how cells respond to signals, interact with their environments, and organize themselves into tissue and organisms, researchers are able to manipulate these processes to mend damaged tissues or create new ones.
In tissue engineering, a scaffold is built from a variety of sources, ranging from proteins to plastics. Cells are introduced to the scaffold with or without a mix of growth factors, depending on the application. In the right environment, an engineered tissue develops. In this process, the combination of cells, scaffolds, and growth factors produce a self-assembling tissue.
Another method is to use an existing scaffold from the collagen in cells of a donor organ. As of 2013, this method has been used to bioengineer heart, liver, lung, and kidney tissues. By using scaffolding from human tissue discarded during surgery, researchers are exploring ways to use a patient's own cells to make customized organs that will not be rejected by the patient's immune system.
Ian Chan
Senior Executive, Operations
Jin Tu
Founder
Kesem Frank
Founder
Matthew Spoke
Founder