'Synbion' The UCL Network in Synthetic Biology

自了解DNA的结构以及蛋白质和酶的工作原理以来，生物学已经取得了长足的进步。现在，人们可以考虑将蛋白质设计成电路和设备中的组件。蛋白质的用处在于，通过改变蛋白质或酶的DNA编码，它们可以被设计成具有不同的表面或性质。蛋白质可以为电子设备带来新的性质，如将电子设备与酶反应连接起来，或者收集光，以及制造具有电、光、磁和酶功能的混合设备。我们将以Synbion网络的名义将研究人员网络聚集在一起，其中将包括许多不同的科学家，他们通常不会在正常的工作范围内相互交谈。通过将这些研究人员聚集在一起并赋予他们明确的任务，例如考虑设计蛋白质线，然后添加更多的活性元素，如酶或磁性，我们希望启动可能用于未来电子设备的设备或元件的设计和制造。我们将邀请英国电子行业的代表参加讨论，以便他们可以考虑在未来的电子设备中使用设计的蛋白质。这些生物电子元件将是可再生和可回收的，不使用贵金属或稀有金属。

Biology has come a long way since the understanding of the structure of DNA and how proteins and enzymes work. It is now possible to think of designing proteins to be components in electrical circuits and devices. The usefulness of proteins is that they can be designed to have altered surfaces or properties by changing the DNA coding for the protein or enzyme. Proteins could bring new properties to electronic devices such as linking electronic devices with enzyme reactions or harvesting light and making mixed devices with electrical, optical, magnetic and enzymic functions. The network of researchers we will bring together under the name of the Synbion network, will include many different scientists who may not normally talk to each other in their normal line of work. By bringing these researchers together and giving them defined tasks such as considering the design of a protein wire then adding further active elements such as an enzyme or magnetic properties, we hope to kick start the design and building of devices or elements that might be used in future electronic devices. We will invite representatives of the UK electronic industries to participate in the discussions so that they can consider using designed proteins in future electronic devices. These biological electronic elements would be renewable and recyclable and not use precious or rare metals.