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| Randy Lewis hugs a baby spider-goat. |
It is part of a new field of research, synthetic biology, with a radical aim: to break down nature into spare parts so that we can rebuild it however we please.
This technology is already being used to make bio-diesel to power cars. Other researchers are looking at how we might, one day, control human emotions by sending 'biological machines' into our brains.
One of the landmark projects of synthetic biology are the spider-goats developed by Randy Lewis, a molecular biologist who has been working more than three decades with the enzyme that allows spiders to spin strong, stretchy silk.
The stronger-than-Kevlar, stretchier -than-nylon fibers could be used in medicine to replace torn ligaments and tendons. It could be used as thread for delicate eye or nerve surgeries. Parachute pull cords or fabric could be woven from the fiber. If the right weave can be found, protective clothing could be made from the manufactured spider silk.
Why goats?
"It became clear you can't farm spiders," Lewis said, recalling his early research."They are cannibalistic and territorial. Spiders are not like silkworms, which you can throw in a box with mulberry leaves. There was no way to collect spider silk in a commercial way."
After two years of work and experimentation, Lewis was able to clone a spider silk gene.
He has two ways of making spider silk. One involves adding it to bacteria, which grows rapidly, reproducing the silk protein. The other way is to implant the silk gene into a goat egg, or embryo, using a process developed by Nexia, a Canadian company that has since disbanded.
"They put our spider silk technology in milk," Lewis said. "The goats produce the protein only when they are lactating, then we purify the proteins from the milk, dry it down, redissolve it up and get the material we can spin into fibers."
Lewis' goats, altered with the spider silk gene, include four males, 10 kids and 20 milking females, two of which are currently lactating.
Lewis said goats were chosen over cows because goats are friendly, of manageable size and go from birth to reproducing/lactating age faster than do cattle.
The bacterial silk- producing process is good because modifications can be put into place quickly. Using goats to produce spider silk is good because a much larger quantity of the protein can be collected.
Lewis estimates that a week's worth of milk from one goat would provide the silk protein needed for fiber for one single tendon- or ligament-replacement surgery.
But such a surgery on a human subject is years away, he said. Extensive animal testing would come first.
Lewis' ongoing goal is to reproduce the strongest spider silk of the six types a spider can produce for a single web. The strongest variety is what spiders use to drop themselves from the ceiling to the floor below. They also use the strongest silk for outer circles of an orb web.
Fully Synthetic Cells
In 2010, Craig J. Venter and associates created a cell almost completely from scratch. The achievement heralds the dawn of a new era in which new life is made to benefit humanity, starting with bacteria that churn out biofuels, soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and even manufacture vaccines according to Venter.Ron Weiss, associate professor of Biological Engineering also featured in the Horizon episode states the thinking behind the basis of synthetic biology:
At first I was interested in taking what we know about biology and apply it to computing. And and some point I decided to flip that around and take what we know about computing and apply that to synthetic biology.At Weiss' laboratory they seek to create integrated biological systems capable of autonomously performing useful tasks, and to elucidate the design principles underlying complex phenotypes.
The program also features NASA's bio capsule technology using carbon nanotubes as a delivery mechanism for drug / cell therapy delivery.
Synthetic biology, with its radical aims: to break down nature into spare parts so that we can rebuild it however we please is definitely cutting-edge science and, more and more, business.
This technology is already being used to make bio-diesel to power cars. Other researchers are looking at how we might, one day, control human emotions by sending 'biological machines' into our brains. The video below explores these issues and more.
Related links
@AdamRutherford
Adam Rutherford article on synthetic biology - The Observer
BioBricks Foundation
Dr David Loftus - Medical Director, NASA Ames Research Center
Dr Rob Carlson
Jim Thomas - ETC Group
Prof Ed Boyden - Synthetic Neurobiology Group, MIT
Prof Randy Lewis - USTAR Professor of Biology, Utah State University
Prof Ron Weiss - Director, MIT Synthetic Biology Center
Raymond McCauley - Co-Founder of BioCurious
The Parts Registry
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