Deploying biological systems: Perspectives on Responsible Research & Innovation and bioethics II

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From the course by University of Manchester

Industrial Biotechnology

245 ratings

University of Manchester

Industrial Biotechnology

245 ratings

Fossil fuels have been the primary energy source for society since the Industrial Revolution. They provide the raw material for the manufacture of many everyday products that we take for granted, including pharmaceuticals, food and drink, materials, plastics and personal care. As the 21st century progresses we need solutions for the manufacture of chemicals that are smarter, more predictable and more sustainable. Industrial biotechnology is changing how we manufacture chemicals and materials, as well as providing us with a source of renewable energy. It is at the core of sustainable manufacturing processes and an attractive alternative to traditional manufacturing technologies to commercially advance and transform priority industrial sectors yielding more and more viable solutions for our environment in the form of new chemicals, new materials and bioenergy. This course will cover the key enabling technologies that underpin biotechnology research including enzyme discovery and engineering, systems and synthetic biology and biochemical and process engineering. Much of this material will be delivered through lectures to ensure that you have a solid foundation in these key areas. We will also consider the wider issues involved in sustainable manufacturing including responsible research innovation and bioethics. In the second part of the course we will look at how these technologies translate into real world applications which benefit society and impact our everyday lives. This will include input from our industry stakeholders and collaborators working in the pharmaceutical, chemicals and biofuels industries. By the end of this course you will be able to: 1. Understand enzymatic function and catalysis. 2. Explain the technologies and methodologies underpinning systems and synthetic biology. 3. Explain the diversity of synthetic biology application and discuss the different ethical and regulatory/governance challenges involved in this research. 4. Understand the principles and role of bioprocessing and biochemical engineering in industrial biotechnology. 5. Have an informed discussion of the key enabling technologies underpinning research in industrial biotechnology 6. Give examples of industrial biotechnology products and processes and their application in healthcare, agriculture, fine chemicals, energy and the environment.

From the lesson

Methods in Systems and Synthetic Biology

Recent advances in our ability to read and write genome sequences on a large scale have led to an ambitious vision for a new generation of biotechnology, often referred to as Synthetic Biology. Synthetic Biology aims at turning biology into an engineering discipline, in which organism engineers use computational tools to design biological systems with novel valuable functionalities, which are then built using advanced high-throughput genetic engineering, and tested by rapid screening technologies that collect diagnostic molecular profiles to drive improved designs in an iterative design-build-test cycle. This module will introduce the engineering concepts that inform Synthetic Biology and the cutting-edge technologies that underlie our dramatically increasing ability to construct living systems with custom-made functionalities. All stages of the design-build-test cycle for novel biosystems will be discussed, with a special focus on their integration in a unified bioengineering platform. Examples will focus on the application of Synthetic Biology as an enabling technology for the bioindustry, especially for the improved microbial production of high-value chemicals and drugs. A section on responsible research and innovation will explore the transformative potential of this innovative technology within a broader socio-economic context, creating awareness of the ethical and political implications of research in this field.

Introduction to Synthetic Biology: Visions for Biotechnology 2.06:27

Designing biological systems: Computational modelling and systems biology9:10

Building biological systems I: Genome synthesis and genome editing9:25

Controlling and engineering pathways in Synthetic Biology9:00

Testing Biological Systems Biological debugging using metabolomics8:12

Deploying biological systems: Perspectives on Responsible Research & Innovation and bioethics I5:24

Conclusions and Outlook Systems and Synthetic Biology6:40

Meet the Instructors

Prof. Nicholas Turner
Deputy Director
Manchester Institute of Biotechnology
Prof. Nigel Scrutton
Director
Manchester Institute of Biotechnology

I'm Andy.

I'm lecturer in sociology at the University of Manchester, and

my research is about science and technology.

How facts get made, but also how science and

technology get used in the social world.

And how they change the social world.

I've been studying synthetic biology for seven or eight years now.

And I've been charting how it emerged as a new discipline and

how it's changed over that time.

So, a good example of responsible research and

innovation in practice comes from the area of synthetic biology.

Every year, there's an international competition called the iGEM competition,

which involves undergraduate teams from around the world.

Working hard over summer to create novel bacteria that can do new things.

In 2006, the Edinburgh iGEM team created a new bacterium and

in 2009 the Cambridge iGEM team created a new bacterium.

And together, those individual developments created an arsenic biosensor.

Arsenic's an important thing to consider in terms of science in

the service of RRI, so doing something good for society.

Because it affects around 100 million people,

particularly in developing or impoverished countries in South Asia,

including places like Nepal or Bangladesh and India.

Knowing that the eventual use of the biosensor would be in these kinds

of countries.

The iGEM teams and the scientists that have been supervising them early on began

to interact with social scientists who were experts in responsible research and

innovation.

And that opened up a whole series of questions about

how the biosensor would be used in practice.

And whether there were things that they could do to design the biosensor to be

a better fit for the culture and for

the economy in which they were going to be using it.

What they did in order to put RRI into practice was,

they went on field work trips into Nepal,

so that they could get a better understanding of the cultural situation,

so that they could understand how the economy was set up there,

and what people were already doing to try and

improve people's understandings of arsenic and drinking water,

and the health problems that it can cause.

This only came about through the interactions that they'd had with social

scientists and the range of stakeholders that they'd met in the UK,

but over time, meant that they'd built a number of different connections with

non-governmental organizations.

But also community workers in the region where they were intending to use

the technology.

This, overall,

meant that they had a better appreciation of what the technology would be used for.

And where it would be used, and how it would be used,

and also the problem that they were trying to overcome.

The impact of implementing an RRI project

in this way on the scientific work that they were doing and

on their own research practices was quite important to the project overall.

And it's a project that's still ongoing.

So they're still trying to understand how to make use of the biosensor.

But what they found was that there were existing ways of measuring arsenic in

drinking water in Nepal.

But people weren't using those techniques very well.

Part of the reason was that they are quite expensive techniques for

most people so they can't really afford them.

But also they involve multiple different steps, so it's difficult to use them.

So by being on the ground, and working with community groups, NGOs, and

social scientists,

they realized that they needed to

make a product in a different way than they had been intending to do so.

So they changed their design so that it would be simpler, and so

that it would be much cheaper.

So they actually changed what they were doing, and

the product that they were going to make, and how they would make it.

So that it would better fit the social situation into

which they were going to be introducing their product.

This is a really good example of RRI, in that it shows that a better understanding

of society, and a better understanding of how economics works,

and engagement with social scientists and

community groups can improve the science that's being done.

One of the big lessons that we can draw from that example that would be relevant

to other synthetic biology projects,

particularly those where they have an international dimension,

is that current regulations around synthetic biology and genetic modification

of microorganisms are largely concentrated in Europe or in North America.

But they don't often apply in more developing countries.

So there are some ways in which that might seem like a good thing.

So that it would be easier to implement these technologies in countries like Nepal

without having to jump through the hoops of regulation as it were.

But the scientists in this context do a really good job of acting responsibly.

And they're seeking approval in the EU before they try and

use this technology in another country.

That's a good example of how thinking responsibly about the kinds of ethics and

politics and legal issues that are involved in

innovation with synthetic biology can improve the overall outcome for everybody.

Another thing that we can learn from that project for

synthetic biology more generally and for industrial biotechnology

is that public engagement exercises are not

just about telling the public about things.

It's not just about informing people, or trying to overcome public ignorance.

It's much more about a two-way dialogue,

so that it's communication, trying to understand how they're lives work.

Trying to understand how society is organized,

in order to change the science that you do.

So that it isn't just about a one-way system, but a two-way system;

science should change if it's going to be responsible, as well.

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