scholarly journals Challenges for the European governance of synthetic biology for human health

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Conor MW Douglas ◽  
Dirk Stemerding
2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 177-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel P. Hewett ◽  
Amy K. Wolfe ◽  
Rachael A. Bergmann ◽  
Savannah C. Stelling ◽  
Kimberly L. Davis

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 277-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josef R. Bober ◽  
Chase L. Beisel ◽  
Nikhil U. Nair

An increasing number of studies have strongly correlated the composition of the human microbiota with many human health conditions and, in several cases, have shown that manipulating the microbiota directly affects health. These insights have generated significant interest in engineering indigenous microbiota community members and nonresident probiotic bacteria as biotic diagnostics and therapeutics that can probe and improve human health. In this review, we discuss recent advances in synthetic biology to engineer commensal and probiotic lactic acid bacteria, bifidobacteria, and Bacteroides for these purposes, and we provide our perspective on the future potential of these technologies.


Antibiotics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 484
Author(s):  
Félix Jaumaux ◽  
Luz P. Gómez de Cadiñanos ◽  
Philippe Gabant

Antibiotics have changed human health and revolutionised medical practice since the Second World War. Today, the use of antibiotics is increasingly limited by the rise of antimicrobial-resistant strains. Additionally, broad-spectrum antibiotic activity is not adapted to maintaining a balanced microbiome essential for human health. Targeted antimicrobials could overcome these two drawbacks. Although the rational design of targeted antimicrobial molecules presents a formidable challenge, in nature, targeted genetically encoded killing molecules are used by microbes in their natural ecosystems. The use of a synthetic biology approach allows the harnessing of these natural functions. In this commentary article we illustrate the potential of applying synthetic biology towards bacteriocins to design a new generation of antimicrobials.


2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (15) ◽  
pp. 4009-4011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tessa Moses ◽  
Alain Goossens

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khalid K. Alam ◽  
Jaeyoung K. Jung ◽  
Matthew S. Verosloff ◽  
Phillip R. Clauer ◽  
Jeong Wook Lee ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTSynthetic biology has enabled the development of powerful nucleic acid diagnostic technologies for detecting pathogens and human health biomarkers. Here we expand the reach of synthetic biology-enabled diagnostics by developing a cell-free biosensing platform that usesRNAoutputsensorsactivated by ligandinduction (ROSALIND) to detect harmful contaminants in aqueous samples. ROSALIND consists of three programmable components: highly-processive RNA polymerases, allosteric transcription factors, and synthetic DNA transcription templates. Together, these components allosterically regulate thein vitrotranscription of a fluorescence-activating RNA aptamer: in the absence of a target compound, transcription is blocked, while in its presence a fluorescent signal is produced. We demonstrate that ROSALIND can be configured to detect a range of water contaminants, including antibiotics, toxic small molecules, and metals. Our cell-free biosensing platform, which can be freeze-dried for field deployment, creates a new capability for point-of-use monitoring of molecular species to address growing global crises in water quality and human health.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Collin R. Barnum ◽  
Benjamin J. Endelman ◽  
Patrick M. Shih

Plants offer a vast source of bioactive chemicals with the potential to improve human health through the prevention and treatment of disease. However, many potential therapeutics are produced in small amounts or in species that are difficult to cultivate. The rapidly evolving field of plant synthetic biology provides tools to capitalize on the inventive chemistry of plants by transferring metabolic pathways for therapeutics into far more tenable plants, increasing our ability to produce complex pharmaceuticals in well-studied plant systems. Plant synthetic biology also provides methods to enhance the ability to fortify crops with nutrients and nutraceuticals. In this review, we discuss (1) the potential of plant synthetic biology to improve human health by generating plants that produce pharmaceuticals, nutrients, and nutraceuticals and (2) the technological challenges hindering our ability to generate plants producing health-promoting small molecules.


Bioethics ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. ii-iii
Author(s):  
Nikola Biller-Andorno ◽  
Ruud ter Meulen ◽  
Ainsley Newson

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 8547-8559
Author(s):  
Hongjing Zhao ◽  
Yu Wang ◽  
Mengyao Mu ◽  
Menghao Guo ◽  
Hongxian Yu ◽  
...  

Antibiotics are used worldwide to treat diseases in humans and other animals; most of them and their secondary metabolites are discharged into the aquatic environment, posing a serious threat to human health.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document