Warwick Integrative Synthetic Biology Centre

合成生物学被视为在自然进化的生物系统之外发展生物学以造福人类的一种方式。这是一种新型的工程，它要么修改活细胞的现有部分，要么产生全新的部分，以生产有用的技术和产品。华威综合合成生物学中心(WISB)的职能将是建立一个由一系列相关学科的研究人员组成的社区，他们将遵循负责任的程序追求合成生物学的目标，这些程序是基于伦理、法律和社会方面的考虑。我们的工作将创造对多个部门有价值的产品和技术，包括生物技术、卫生、食品安全和环境。我们将与众多对这一领域感兴趣的公司合作。WISB的核心是致力于开发对更广泛的社区有用的合成生物学技术和技术诀窍，并使该中心将实施的应用项目取得进展。这项核心活动被称为预测性生物系统工程，因为这个想法是为了找到开发以可预测的方式运行的合成生物系统的方法。这样做的好处是，可以将可预测的组件组装成更复杂的系统，这些系统也以可预测的方式运行--这是经典工程中的一个基本重要原则。还有三个更多应用研究的领域：工程生物合成途径是关于在活细胞中建立定制和可控的途径，指导有用的产品的组装，例如抗菌剂和抗癌药物。工程学原理的应用将以优化这些细胞内药物生产线的生产率为目标。工程微生物群落是一个研究领域，在该领域中，我们组装了可用于一系列生物技术和生物医学应用的不同种类的微生物。例如，这种类型的合成群落将能够从环境中降解有毒和有毒的化合物，或者可以用于治疗皮肤或肠道疾病。工程微生物效应系统研究将利用植物和它们在自然界中相互作用的微生物物种之间的迷人相互作用，例如在土壤中。这种微生物使用一系列称为效应器的分子来改变植物细胞的遗传和新陈代谢系统。通过重新设计这些相互作用，我们将能够增强植物的特性，从而有助于粮食安全。在上述活动的同时，WISB将对合成生物学的伦理、法律和社会方面进行研究，并遵循负责任的研究和创新原则。我们将参与广泛的外展活动，以便向更广泛的社区宣传我们的研究理念和成果。这一外展的一个特色将包括关于技术、设计和艺术之间的关系的工作和演讲。最后，WISB将完全致力于合成生物学的教育和培训，从而确保我们为培养未来一代合成生物学研究人员做出强有力的贡献。

Synthetic biology is seen as a way to develop biology beyond naturally evolved biological systems to the benefit of mankind. It is a new type of engineering in which either existing parts of living cells are modified, or completely new parts are generated, in order to produce useful technologies and products. The function of the Warwick Integrative Synthetic Biology Centre (WISB) will be to establish a community of researchers from a range of relevant disciplines that will pursue the aims of synthetic biology following responsible procedures that are informed by considerations of ethical, legal and societal aspects. Our work will create products and technologies that will be valuable to multiple sectors, including biotechnology, health, food security and the environment. We will work in partnership with a wide range of companies that have interests in this area.At the core of WISB will be an underpinning commitment to developing synthetic biology technologies and knowhow that will both be useful to the wider community and will also enable progress in the applied projects that will be pursued in the Centre. This core activity is called Predictive Biosystems Engineering because the idea is to find ways of developing synthetic biological systems that behave in predictable ways. The benefit of this would be that predictable components can be assembled into more complex systems that also behave in predictable ways - this is a principle of fundamental importance in classical engineering. There are also three areas of more applied research:Engineering Biosynthetic Pathways is about building tailor-made and controllable pathways in living cells that direct the assembly of useful products, e.g. antimicrobials and anti-cancer drugs. Engineering principles will be applied with the objective of optimizing the productivity of these intracellular drug production lines.Engineering Microbial Communities is a research area in which we assemble different species of microbial organism that can be used in a range of biotechnological and biomedical applications. For example, synthetic communities of this type will be able to degrade noxious and toxic compounds from the environment, or could be utilized to treat diseases of the skin or gut.Engineering Microbial Effector Systems research will take advantage of the fascinating interplay between plants and microbial species with which they interact in Nature, for example in the soil. Such microorganisms use a range of molecules, called effectors, to modify the genetic and metabolic systems of plant cells. By re-engineering these interactions, we will be able to enhance the properties of plants, thus contributing to food security.In parallel to the above activities, WISB will perform research on the ethical, legal and societal aspects of synthetic biology and follow principles of responsible research and innovation. We will engage in a wide range of outreach activities in order to communicate our research philosophy and findings to the wider community. A special feature of this outreach will involve work and presentations on the relationships between technology, design and art.Finally, WISB will be fully committed to education and training in synthetic biology, thus ensuring that we contribute strongly to the training of future generations of synthetic biology researchers.