Genetic Engineering lacks a few elements of Engineering. Here is what those are and how Synthetic Biology (or Genetic Engineering v2.0) would account for those.

1. synthetic biology
BRINGING ENGINEERING BACK
INTO GENETIC ENGINEERING
Sachin Singh Rawat
School of Biotech, GGS IP University

2. Elements of Engineering we
must bring to Biology
Standardization
of parts
Ease of
compilation
Open
sourcing of
information
User
Interface
Democratization
of technology
Citizen
involvement

3. An Optimistic Comparison
Networks
Computers
Operating systems
Modules
Logic gates
Transistors, diodes
Digital code
Error protection
Data compression
Tissue, cultures
Cells
Ribosomes
Pathways
Biochemical reactions
Proteins, genes
Nucleotides
DNA repair
Overlapping ORFs

4. Extending the comparison, we
are trying to
Edit the source code
Copy source code into
another program
Write entirely new code
Reboot
Develop new computers
running on similar or new
operating systems
Change the protein
expressed
Standardize and copy genes
into other organisms
Engineer completely new
proteins
Reprogram cells
Create new life similar to
what we know, and possibly
alien-like too

5. Do-it-yourself Biology
Microsoft, Apple and HP were started in garages
Garage Biology: How ready are we?
DNA synthesis at $ 0.32 /bp
A computer virus is much less devastating than the one we
biologists are familiar with
Smart-phones, Internet and digital learning
Develop “Glow-curd” by transfecting yeast DNA isolated from
curd by GFP plasmid ordered over eBay

6. BioBricks
DNA sequences of defined structure and function sharing a
common interface, flanked by universal downstream and upstream
sequences
Initiated by Tom Knight, Drew Endy, Chris Voigt at MIT
Parts, devices and systems
Parts encode basic functions like promoter, proteins etc
Devices are collections of parts that implement some user-defined
function, for instance a riboregulator that produces a fluorescent
protein on encountering a certain environmental signal
Systems perform high-level tasks which involve integration of
multiple devices

7. Some from the iGEM
Bactoblood: A substitute for
natural blood with properties of
RBCs, without any blood group
specificity
E. chromi: A microbe that
gives out colour if a particular
pathogen is present in water
sample
Cell-to-cell communication
system that allows propagation
of a set of instructions coded
onto a plasmid
Cancer specific RNAi mediated
cell destruction
A biological system that senses
glucose concentration and
releases insulin in response
Arsenic bio-detector
Harvesting cellulose and light to
power butanol biosynthesis

8. Genome Compiler

9. Junkomics: Making proteins from
non-coding DNA
Develop non-coding region into a BioBrick
Add a promoter and other transcription machinery
Couple with a module to secret this protein on the cell
surface
Insert as a plasmid in a minimal organism
Obtain the protein produced and check for any
therapeutic or industrial use

10. Wildest SynBio Scenarios
A microbe which ingested with water comes out in
faeces, coloured according to your gut bacteria
Microbes which live only to produce power/proteins
of interest
A virus that corrects network perturbations in
diseases
A seed that grows into a house
Microbe(s) which help us colonize Mars

11. Thank You