Name: 【TEDx】Synthetic biology, a new frontier: Christopher Bradley at TEDxNYU
Uploaded: 2014-05-04T15:04:52.000Z
Duration: 6 min 10 s
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This is a snapshot of what's going on,  right now inside every cell of your body.

So if you look at this,  especially you're a biochemistry student

And the answer is actually rather elegant.

So the body has to create very important compounds that it doesn't find in nature right now.

So, an example of this would be acetyl-CoA.

Acetyl-CoA is a neurotransmitter and it's also -- well, it's a precursor to a neurotransmitter --

and it is also important in a dozen other reactions.

Now, the body cannot find this by itself in nature so has to create it.

So single celled organisms,  and then later multi-cell organism, like us,

have evolved incredibly complex and elegant pathways  to make these compounds.

So now you're looking at this and you say, "OK. Why is this important?"

Well, now scientists have found ways of taking advantage  of what nature has already evolved

So that's where synthetic biology comes in.

Synthetic biology is using genes  as a programming language.

and having them act like tiny machines  to create high value products.

So what's an example of this?  So a perfect example is algae.

And it has, as you can see here, these little green cylinders -- they are chloroplasts.

So chloroplast, as many of you probably know,

they convert solar energy into chemical energy.

So synthetic biologists have been taking that  and using it to create interesting products.

So one example of this is carbon dioxide.

As we all know carbon dioxide is an increasing issue in global warning and many other phenomenon.

By engineering algae, we can use solar energy

to convert carbon dioxide into butanol, which is a fuel substitute.

So synthetic biology lets us close the gap,

and make truly sustainable technology  by re-harnessing the products of combustion.

So what are some of the major problems affecting us in 21th century?

I've already mention fuel that's obvious; energy,

there's also hunger, health and sustainability.

synthetic biology methods have allowed us to create artemisinin in cheap, and large quantities.

that until recently you could only get  by extracting it from a plant.

and that meant the drug for malarial patients  were very expensive and hard to get to them.

So synthetic biology has already answer one question in terms of artemisinin.

Now in terms of healthier crops I don't mean GMOs.

I mean normal crops with synthetic organisms

that have been created to protect those crops from parasites.

So, co-existing, synergistically with crops.

Algae biofuels I already mentioned, there's a lot of variance in this

And the beauty is: all of these can be engineered to be inherently sustainable.

So now I want to get a little bit deeper into what we mean.

How does this happen? And why it is so new?

So, it's really the marriage of biology and engineering.

Specifically three major tanents of engineering.

So before that I want to give a testament of power of engineering that we already have.

So, it's the tallest building, it's in Dubai --

it's one of the tallest buildings -- or the tallest building on the planet.

It's about 2.5 times of Empire State Building.

So this give you an idea that it is immense.

And engineering principles are what allow us to do this.

So the chunks of DNA essentially you can pop in and out,

standardize chunks of DNA and reuse sequences for different purposes.

So we've standardized DNA, and this is a huge undertaking.

Next, instead of blueprints, we have advanced computer simulations.

So this is an area that's still very much in growth,

and it's going to redefine how we design biological organisms.

And then finally, instead of airplanes and wind tunnels,  we have test tubes.

And rapidly prototyping is another big part of testing and iterating and getting this right.

So, now I just told you a little bit of a hint of what it would happen.

But this is Vincent Callebaut's floating buildings.

This is some of the possibilities that are really out there.

it's complicated now -- imagine a 60 foot or 600 feet of floating buildings.

So, another huge area that's going to explode is personalized medicine.

or at least opens a window to creating vaccines and therapies

And doing it in a cheap and cost-effective manner.

So, this could redefine how drugs are created and delivered.

we are working in health IT, and that's another area that's really exploding right now.

And where they meet in the future is really,

literally going to redefine what we consider medicine,

So, finally I want to leave you with this thought:

this is a picture, an artist depistion, of what Mars will look like with an atmosphere,

The technology that we're starting to play with right now --