The promise and peril of synthetic biology in 78 minutes

Below youll find an unhurried interview with Autodesk Distinguished Researcher Andy Hessel. Andy is a prime instigator behind GP-Write which is, on some levels, heir to the Human Genome Project and a co-founder of Humane Genomics, which is developing virus-based therapies for cancer.

Its the fourth episode of my podcast series (co-hosted byTom Merritt), which launchedhere on Boing Boingthree weeks ago. The series goes deep into the science, tech, and sociological issues explored in my present-day science fictionnovelAfter On but no familiarity with the novel is necessary to listen to it.

The upside and the downside of synthetic biology are vast and Andy is deeply versed in both. He co-wrote a chilling fictive scenario about a bioterror plot for the Atlantic but he tends toward relentless optimism when contemplating synthetic biologys future.

Synbio newbies should find our wide-ranging discussion to be a robust introduction to the field. But Andys sophisticated commentary will give expert listeners plenty to chew on. After considering the astounding decades-long drop in the cost of reading DNA (which makes price/performance gains in computing look trivial), we discuss the sudden and accelerating plunge in the cost of writing DNA that does not exist in nature.

Andy explains how this is enabling the explosive rise of a market for metabolic circuits clusters of genes designed to churn out industrial enzymes and other chemically complex output. This is a giant step down a path toward bioprinting an immense array of tissues (new skin for burn victims, cow-free steaks that could fool a cattleman, and much more), and then onward to boundless breeds of wholly synthetic critters.

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