Conceptual Delimitations related to the Philosophical Approaches on Synthetic Biology

Authors

  • Olivia Macovei PhD Student, Doctoral School of Social and Humanistic Sciences, Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18662/lumenphs/8.2/47

Keywords:

synthetic biology, philosopy of technology, technoethics

Abstract

Synthetic biology is an area of ​​technological development and innovative scientific research at the crossroads between biology and technology (bioengineering), that aims to create artificial living systems, either by redesigning living systems that already exist in the natural environment, or by producing organic systems that are quasi-biological, which emulate organic life. A number of research methods and technologies are incorporated in the development of synthetic biology, including genetic engineering, molecular biology and bio-molecular engineering, biophysics, chemical engineering, evolutionary biology, computer and computing engineering, genetics etc. The article aims to analyze the meanings of the term synthetic biology and the technological path that made the emergence of synthetic biology possible, the technological applications of synthetic biology, and starting from all this, to present a series of philosophical perspectives on synthetic biology.

References

Adamantidis, A.R., Zhang, F., Aravanis, A.M., Deisseroth, K., de Lecea, L. (2007). Neural substrates of awakening probed with optogenetic control of hypocretin neurons. Nature, 450(7168), 420–424. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06310

Aristotel. (2013). Despre suflet. Editura Univers Enciclopedic.

Benner, S.A., Yang, Z., & Chen, F. (2011). Synthetic biology, tinkering biology, and artificial biology. What are we learning? Comptes Rendus Chimie, 14(4), 372-387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crci.2010.06.013

Bensaude Vincent, B. (2015). Life by design: Philosophical perspectives on synthetic biology. BIO Web of Conferences, 4, 00015. https://doi.org/10.1051/bioconf/20150400015

Bognon, C., & Wolfe, C. (eds). (2019). Philosophy of biology before biology. Routledge.

Boudry, M., & Pigliucci, M. (2013). The mismeasure of machine: Synthetic biology and the trouble with engineering metaphors. Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 44(4), 660-668. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2013.05.013

Cabon-Dhersin, M.-L., & Ramani, S.V. (2007). Opportunism, Trust and Cooperation: A Game Theoretic Approach With Heterogeneous Agents. Rationality and Society, 19(2), 203-228. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043463107077391

Cachat, E., & Davies, J. A. (2011). Application of Synthetic Biology to Regenerative Medicine. Journal of Bioengineering and Biomedical Sciences, 01(S2). https://doi.org/10.4172/2155-9538.s2-003

Church, G.M., & Regis, E. (2012). Regenesis, How Synthetic Biology will reinvent Nature and Ourselves. Basic Books.

Clark, D.P., & Pazdernik, N.J. (2016). Synthetic biology: report to congress 2013. In David P. Clark, Nanette J. Pazdernik, Biotechnology (Second Edition), (pp. 419-445). Academic Cell. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-385015-7.00013-2

Coulter, I., Snider, P., & Neil, A. (2019). Vitalism-A Worldview Revisited: A Critique Of Vitalism And Its Implications For Integrative Medicine. Integrative medicine (Encinitas, Calif.), 18(3), 60–73.

Coyne, L. (2020). The Ethics and Ontology of Synthetic Biology: a Neo-Aristotelian Perspective. Nanoethics, 14, 43–55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11569-019-00347-2

Dabrock, P. (2009). Playing God? Synthetic biology as a theological and ethical challenge. Systems and synthetic biology, 3(1-4), 47–54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11693-009-9028-5

Deisseroth, K., Feng, G., Majewska, A.K., Miesenböck, G., Ting, A., & Schnitzer, M.J. (2006). Next-generation optical technologies for illuminating genetically targeted brain circuits. J Neurosci, 26(41), 10380–6.

DeNies, M. S., Liu, A. P., & Schnell, S. (2020). Are the biomedical sciences ready for synthetic biology? Biomolecular Concepts, 11(1), 23-31. https://doi.org/10.1515/bmc-2020-0003

Descartes, R. (2012). Discurs asupra metodei. Editura Gramar.

Dolgin, E. (2020, September 28). Synthetic biology speeds vaccine development. Milestones 20. Retrieved from: https://www.nature.com/articles/d42859-020-00025-4

Elowitz, M.B., & Leibler, S. (January 2000). A synthetic oscillatory network of transcriptional regulators. Nature, 403(6767), 335-338. https://doi.org/10.1038/35002125

Fontana, G. (2006). Why we live in the Computational Universe. arXiv:physics, 0511157. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2169325

Green, S. (2019). Philosophy of Systems and Synthetic Biology. In: Edward N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2019 Edition). Retrieved from: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2019/entries/systems-synthetic-biology/

Guliciuc, V. (2014). Complexity and Social Media. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 149, 371-375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.08.193

Horgan, J. (1995). From Complexity to Perplexity. Scientific American, 104.

Ihde, D. (1979). Technics and praxis. D. Reidel, Dordrecht.

Johnson, M.B., March, A.R., & Morsut, L. (2017). Engineering multicellular systems: using synthetic biology to control tissue self-organization. Curr Opin Biomed Eng, 4, 163–73

Lachance, J.C., Rodrigue, S., & Palsson, B.O. (2019). Minimal cells, maximal knowledge. eLife, 8, e45379. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.45379

Langton, C. G. (ed.). (1987). Artificial Life. Redwood City: Addison-Wesley.

Leduc, S. (1910). Théorie physico-chimique de la vie et générations spontanées. Nature, 86(410), 1911. https://doi.org/10.1038/086410a0

Leduc, S. (1912). La biologie synthétique, étude de biophysique. A. Poinat.

Luisi, P.P., & Charabelli, C. (eds). (2011). Chemical Synthetic Biology. John Wiley & Sons.

NEST High-Level Expert Group, Syntetic biology. Applying Engineering to Biology. Retrieved from: http://www.synbiosafe.eu/uploads///pdf/EU-highlevel-syntheticbiology.pdf

Nicholson, D.J. (2013). Organisms ≠ machines. Stud Hist Phil Biol Biomed Sci, 44(4: part B), 669–678. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2013.05.014

Normandin, S., & Wolfe, C. T. (2013). Vitalism and the scientific image: An introduction. In: S. Normandin & C. T. Wolfe (editors), Vitalism and the scientific image in post-Enlightenment life science, 1800-2010. Springer.

O’Malley, M.A. (2009). Making Knowledge in Synthetic Biology: Design Meets Kludge. Biological Theory, 4(4), 378–389. https://doi.org/10.1162/BIOT_a_00006

Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, New Directions: The Ethics of Synthetic Biology and Emerging Technologies (Washington, D.C.: PCBSI, 2010). Retrieved from: http://bioethics.gov/cms/synthetic-biology-report.

Purnick, P. E. M., & Weiss, R. (2009). The second wave of synthetic biology: from modules to systems. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 10, 410–422. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2698

Saiki, R.K., Gelfand, D.H., Stoffel, S., Scharf, S.J., Higuchi, R., Horn, G.T., Mullis, K.B., & Erlich, H.A. (1988). Primer-directed enzymatic amplification of DNA with a thermostable DNA polymerase. Science, 239(4839), 487–491. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.239.4839.487

Saladino, R., Šponer, J. E., Šponer, J., & Di Mauro, E. (2018). Rewarming the Primordial Soup: Revisitations and Rediscoveries in Prebiotic Chemistry. Chembiochem: a European journal of chemical biology, 19(1), 22–25. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.201700534

Sandu, A. (2020). Bioetica în criză sau criza bioeticii? O filosofie a societății medicalizate. Editura Lumen.

Si, T., & Zhao, H. (2016). A brief overview of synthetic biology research programs and roadmap studies in the United States. Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology, 1(4), 258-264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.synbio.2016.08.003

Siegenfeld, A.F., & Bar-Yam, Y. (2020). An Introduction to Complex Systems Science and Its Applications. Hindawi, 2020, 6105872. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6105872

Sîmbotin, D.G. (2020). Limitele cunoașterii. Perspective logico-epistemice. [Teza de abilitare]. Universitatea Tehnică din Cluj-Napoca, Centrul de Nord Baia Mare, Facultatea de Litere.

Sprevak, M., Copeland, J., & Shagrir, O. (2017). Is the whole universe a computer? The Turing Guide: Life, Work, Legacy. Oxford University Press.

Sullins, J. (1998). Synthetic Biology: The Technoscience of Artificial Life. The Paideia Archive: Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy, 39, 1998, 46-53. https://doi.org/10.5840/wcp20-paideia199839704

Szybalski, W. (1974). In Vivo and in Vitro Initiation of Transcription. In: Kohn A., Shatkay A. (eds), Control of Gene Expression. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 44. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-3246-6_3

Tetz, V.V., & Tetz, G.V. (2019). A new biological definition of life. Biomolecular Concepts, 11(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1515/bmc-2020-0001

Van den Belt, H. (2009). Playing God in Frankenstein’s Footsteps: Synthetic Biology and the Meaning of Life. Nanoethics, 3, 257. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11569-009-0079-6

Venetz, J.E., Del Medico, L., Wölfle, A., Schächle, P., Bucher, Y., Appert, D., Tschan, F., Flores-Tinoco, C.E., van Kooten, M., Guennoun, R., Deutsch, S., Christen, M., & Christen, B. (2019). Chemical synthesis rewriting of a bacterial genome to achieve design flexibility and biological functionality. PNAS, 116(16), 8070-8079. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1818259116

Venetz, J.E., Del Medico, L., Wölfle, A., Schächle, P., Bucher, Y., Appert, D., Tschan, F., Flores-Tinoco, C.E., van Kooten, M., Guennoun, R., Deutsch, S., Christen, M., & Christen, B. (2019). Chemical synthesis rewriting of a bacterial genome to achieve design flexibility and biological functionality. PNAS, 116(16) 8070-8079. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1818259116

Vermeire, T. (2016, September 12). Oamenii de știință examinează potențialul și riscurile asociate biologiei sintetice. Comisia Europeană Sănătate publică Newsletter 143. Retrieved from: http://ec.europa.eu/health/newsletter/144/focus_newsletter_ro.htm

Whitehead, A.N. (1920). The concept of nature. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Wolkenhauer, O., & Mesarović, M. (2005). Feedback Dynamics and Cell Function: Why Systems Biology is Called Systems Biology. Molecular BioSystems, 1, 14–16. https://doi.org/10.1039/b502088n

Yin, X., Mead, B.E., Safaee, H., Langer, R., Karp, J.M., & Levy, O. (2016). Engineering Stem Cell Organoids. Cell Stem Cell, 18(1), 25–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2015.12.005

Zhang, F., Wang, L.P., Boyden, E.S. (2006). Deisseroth, K. Channelrhodopsin-2 and optical control of excitable cells. Nat Methods, 3(10), 785–92.

Zhao, H. (2013). Synthetic Biology. Tools and Applications. Elsevier.

Zurich, E.T.H. (2019, April 1). First bacterial genome created entirely with a computer. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 31, 2021 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190401171343.htm

Downloads

Published

2020-12-20

How to Cite

Macovei, O. . (2020). Conceptual Delimitations related to the Philosophical Approaches on Synthetic Biology. Logos Universality Mentality Education Novelty: Philosophy & Humanistic Sciences, 8(2), 83-104. https://doi.org/10.18662/lumenphs/8.2/47