Synthetic biology moving into the clinic

Synthetic biology is an emerging field focused on engineering biomolecular systems and cellular capabilities for a variety of applications. Substantial progress began a little over a decade ago with the creation of synthetic gene networks inspired by electrical engineering. Since then, the field has designed and built increasingly complex circuits and constructs and begun to use these systems in a variety of settings, including the clinic. These efforts include the development of synthetic biology therapies for the treatment of infectious diseases and cancer, as well as approaches in vaccine development, microbiome engineering, cell therapy, and regenerative medicine. Here, we highlight advances in the biomedical application of synthetic biology and discuss the field's clinical potential.     

Realizing the potential of the genome revolution: the genomes to life program

The systems biology revolution is proceeding along multiple pathways as different science agencies and the private sector have adopted strategies suited to their particular needs and cultures. To meet this challenge, the U.S. Department of Energy has developed the Genomes to Life (GTL) program. A central focus of GTL is environmental microbial biology as a way to approach global environmental problems, and its key goal is to achieve, over the next 10 to 20 years, a basic understanding of thousands of microbes and microbial systems in their native environments. This focus demands that we address huge gaps in knowledge, technology, computing, data storage and manipulation, and systems-level integration.     

使用现代化电教手段提高细胞生物学实验教学质量的研究

将数字化显微网络互动系统和显微电视投影系统应用于细胞生物学实验教学,以学生的百分制评分评价教学效果,经数据分析结果显示：在镜检观察、信息保存、对预期的了解和知识拓展等方面表现出了极显著的优越性,有效地提高了细胞生物学的实验教学质量。     

Bottom-up synthetic biology: engineering in a tinkerer's world

How synthetic can "synthetic biology" be? A literal interpretation of the name of this new life science discipline invokes expectations of the systematic construction of biological systems with cells being built module by module--from the bottom up. But can this possibly be achieved, taking into account the enormous complexity and redundancy of living systems, which distinguish them quite remarkably from design features that characterize human inventions? There are several recent developments in biology, in tight conjunction with quantitative disciplines, that may bring this literal perspective into the realm of the possible. However, such bottom-up engineering requires tools that were originally designed by nature's greatest tinkerer: evolution.     

系统生物学中大型布尔网络的结构型序关系及其动态特征

【目的】研究系统生物学中大型布尔网络的结构型模块分解以及相关的动态演化问题。【方法】引入了一种适应于大尺度调控网络的模块划分方法,探讨了与模块划分相关的网络动态特性。【结果】在模块划分方面,证明了模块之间存在着偏序关系。在与模块划分相关的网络动态特性研究方面,提出了投影状态空间的概念,给出了局部投影空间和整个系统状态空间在稳定状态方面的关联性。【结论】通过对系统生物学中大型布尔网络进行合理模块分解,得到了从局部稳态特性推导总体稳态特性的基本结论,有效化简了对这类大型网络研究的复杂度。     

酵母表达系统研究进展与展望

酵母不仅已成为现代分子生物学研究最重要的工具之一,也是表达外源基因比较理想的宿主。笔者概括酵母表达系统的主要种类,并从外源基因特性、启动子的影响、外源基因拷贝数和稳定性及表达条件等方面综述影响酵母表达外源蛋白的因素,最后对酵母表达系统发展进行展望。     

杨树生殖生物学研究进展

该文介绍了杨树 (Populusspp .)生殖生物学的研究概况 ,包括 :①杨树有性生殖过程中雌雄生殖系统形态结构和细胞化学变化及其生物学意义 .②雄性不育的机理 .③杨树杂交不亲和性的表现和原因及其克服的方法 ,花粉-柱头识别反应 .④杨树生殖工程取得的成就 .     

微生物区系的功能基因组研究方法学

微生物在生态环境中具有重要作用,与整个生态系统中物质循环和能量流动密切相关。目前微生物区系的研究不断揭示环境样品中微生物群体的结构和功能。系统生物学研究思路不断地被引入进来,例如微生物区系基因组学、宏蛋白组学、生物信息学等。后基因组研究将对微生物区系的发展起到极其重要的作用。文章对应用到微生物区系研究的一些生物学方法进行了综述。     

Yeast: an experimental organism for modern biology

The yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe have become popular and successful model systems for understanding eukaryotic biology at the cellular and molecular levels. The reasons for this success are experimental tractability, especially in applying classical and molecular genetic methods to associate genes with proteins and functions within the cell.     

Synthetic biology: integrated gene circuits

A major goal of synthetic biology is to develop a deeper understanding of biological design principles from the bottom up, by building circuits and studying their behavior in cells. Investigators initially sought to design circuits "from scratch" that functioned as independently as possible from the underlying cellular system. More recently, researchers have begun to develop a new generation of synthetic circuits that integrate more closely with endogenous cellular processes. These approaches are providing fundamental insights into the regulatory architecture, dynamics, and evolution of genetic circuits and enabling new levels of control across diverse biological systems.     

Trends in analytical instrumentation

Methods for deriving chemical information from a variety of systems and environments have changed dramatically in the last decade. Unique principles from physics, chemistry, and biology are the basis for sophisticated instruments that incorporate computers for data acquisition, reduction, and interpretation. Such analytical systems have shown orders-of-magnitude improvements in sensitivity, specificity, and speed, yet with greater simplicity and lower price. The increasing importance of analytical instrumentation requires reexamination of its coverage in educational curricula and of the role of the analytical chemist in its further development and application.     

草坪草组织培养和遗传转化研究进展

综述了冷季型、过渡型和暖季型草坪草组织培养和转基因研究进展,重点介绍了草坪草组培外植体种类、再生方式和遗传转化等方面的研究进展,并指出草坪草组织培养和遗传转化中存在的问题,展望了其发展前景.     

Long-Range (Casimir) Interactions

Normally, nonrelativistic electromagnetic theory with two-particle Coulombic interactions adequately determines the interaction potential of systems A and B if the systems are composed of particles with characteristic velocities much less than the speed of light. If, however, the time it takes light to travel between A and B exceeds a characteristic oscillation period of A or B, the way in which the potential function depends on the separation of the systems can be altered. Called the Casimir effect, it has only recently been confirmed, and it arises in physics, chemistry, and biology. It is the clearest physical manifestation of the fact that, even in a vacuum, electromagnetic fields cannot all vanish.     

Toward self-organization and complex matter

Beyond molecular chemistry based on the covalent bond, supramolecular chemistry aims at developing highly complex chemical systems from components interacting through noncovalent intermolecular forces. Over the past quarter century, supramolecular chemistry has grown into a major field and has fueled numerous developments at the interfaces with biology and physics. Some of the conceptual advances and future challenges are profiled here.     

Introductory science and mathematics education for 21st-Century biologists

Galileo wrote that "the book of nature is written in the language of mathematics"; his quantitative approach to understanding the natural world arguably marks the beginning of modern science. Nearly 400 years later, the fragmented teaching of science in our universities still leaves biology outside the quantitative and mathematical culture that has come to define the physical sciences and engineering. This strikes us as particularly inopportune at a time when opportunities for quantitative thinking about biological systems are exploding. We propose that a way out of this dilemma is a unified introductory science curriculum that fully incorporates mathematics and quantitative thinking.     

Inspirations from biological optics for advanced photonic systems

Observing systems in nature has inspired humans to create technological tools that allow us to better understand and imitate biology. Biomimetics, in particular, owes much of its current development to advances in materials science and creative optical system designs. New investigational tools, such as those for microscopic imaging and chemical analyses, have added to our understanding of biological optics. Biologically inspired optical science has become the emerging topic among researchers and scientists. This is in part due to the availability of polymers with customizable optical properties and the ability to rapidly fabricate complex designs using soft lithography and three-dimensional microscale processing techniques.     

Forces between surfaces in liquids

Recent developments in the direct measurements of forces between surfaces in liquids at the ?ngstrom resolution level are reviewed. The results reveal a rich variety of interactions and interaction potentials that depend on the nature of the surfaces and intervening liquids. These results also shed new insights into liquid structure adjacent to surfaces and the interactions occurrig in complex systems, with implications in many different areas of chemical physics, biology, and technology. The origin of some important fundamental interactions, such as repulsive "hydration" forces and attractive "hydrophobic" forces, are still not understood and offer a challenge for experimental and theoretical work in this area.     

NSB Promotes Environmental Science

In its third anlnual report to Congress, entitled "Environmental Science: Challenge for the Seventies," the National Science Board urged "A Federal Mechanism . . . to provide for the promotion and support of environmental science as a whole." The Board defined "environmental science" as "the study of all the systems of air, land, water, energy, and life that surround man. It includes all science directed to the system-level of understanding of the environment, drawing especially on such disciplines as meteorology, geophysics, oceanography, and ecology, and utilizing to the fullest the knowledge and techniques developed in such fields as physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and engineering." The following excerpt is from the report's section on "The Basic Issue."     

主要国家新型植物育种技术监管现状综述

近年来分子生物学和生物技术的快速发展促成了一批在育种中具有重要应用前景的新型植物育种技术。重点介绍了位点特异性诱变、同源转基因、转基因阴性诱导系选育、农杆菌浸润和转基因砧木嫁接五类新型植物育种技术,探讨了研发产品能否归类于转基因生物产品及其监管等方面的焦点问题,梳理了国外在健全相关监管体系方面的做法,并针对这些问题提出符合我国国情的发展建议。