Hacking the cell
In conclusion, the nascent field of synthetic biology is developing with rising speed. Biochemists, bioengineers, and computer scientists are constructing increasingly ingenious and complex genetic systems that can perform computational functions such as oscillation, counting, arithmetic, and Boolean logic. While these algorithms are currently limited in their scope and application, their near- unlimited potential is already emerging. Thanks to the already sophisticated and industrially utilised fields of DNA transfection and transduction (virus-mediated transport), it may not be long until medically useful SBCs can be introduced into the genomes of humans and commensalistic microbes, configured to prevent, diagnose, and treat an extremely wide range of diseases in ways that current medicine cannot, whilst saving health services billions of pounds. Even more novel technologies such as protein-protein interaction circuits and high-level molecular programming languages could allow people to receive urgent treatment at the speed of milliseconds, and create easily customisable programs for a variety of different needs. Meanwhile, biosynthetic drug production and synthetic manipulation of organisms promises an increase in speed and decrease in cost for drug manufacture and novel drug design. While synthetic biological technology is still too young to have clear current implications, the horizon of medical application draws ever closer, and it is more than evident that SBCs will provide an exciting future for medicine.
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