Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 24, 2025

Using Synthetic Biology to Engineer Living Cells That Interface with Programmable Materials
Published on: March 9, 2017
Engineering Life: A Review of Synthetic Biology
1University of Trento, Department of Cellular, Computational, and Integrative Biology (CIBIO).
Abstract:
Synthetic biology is a field of scientific research that applies engineering principles to living organisms and living systems. It is a field that is increasing in scope with respect to organisms engineered, practical outcomes, and systems integration. There is a commercial dimension as well, where living organisms are engineered as green technologies that could offer alternatives to industrial standards in the pharmaceutical and petroleum-based chemical industries. This review attempts to provide an introduction to this field as well as a consideration of important contributions that exemplify how synthetic biology may be commensurate or even disproportionate with the complexity of living systems. The engineerability of living systems remains a difficult task, yet advancements are reported at an ever-increasing pace.
Related Concept Videos
Synthetic Biology
Golden rice
Golden rice is a genetically modified...
What is Genetic Engineering?
Biosynthesis in Bacteria
The Central Dogma
RNA is the Missing Link Between DNA and Proteins
In the early 1900s, scientists discovered that DNA stores all the information needed for cellular functions and that proteins perform most of these functions. However, the mechanisms of converting genetic information into functional proteins remained unknown for many years. Initially, it was believed that a single gene is...
CRISPR and crRNAs
The CRISPR-Cas system stores a copy of foreign DNA in the host genome and uses it to identify the foreign DNA upon reinfection. CRISPR-Cas has three different...

