Synthetic Biology: Rational Pathway Design for Regenerative Medicine

Rational pathway design is the invention of an optimally efficient route from one state (e.g. chemical structure, state of differentiation, physiological state) to another, based on knowledge of biological processes: it contrasts with the use of natural pathways that have evolved by natural selection. Synthetic biology is a hybrid discipline of biology and engineering that offers a means for rationally designed pathways to be realized in living cells. Several areas of regenerative medicine could benefit from rational pathway design, including derivation of patient-specific stem cells, directed differentiation of stem cells, replicating physiological function in an alternative cell type, construction of custom interface tissues and building fail-safe systems into transplanted tissues. Synthetic biological approaches offer the potential for construction of these, for example controllable ex vivo stem cell niches, genetic networks for direct transdifferentiation from adult fibroblast to restricted stem cell without going via induced pluripotent stem cells, signalling pathways for realizing physiological regulation in alternative cell types, morphological modules for producing self-constructing novel 'tissues' and 'kill-switches' for therapeutically applied stem cells. Given the potential of this approach, a closer convergence of the regenerative medicine and synthetic biology research fields seems timely.