Engineering biology

00:04:05
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeawWryPFbs

概要

TLDRThe video explores the potential of engineering living cells to navigate the human body, identify diseases, and deliver therapies. The speaker, a synthetic biologist at MIT, discusses their journey from chemical engineering to biophysics and the interdisciplinary nature of their research group. They highlight the significance of genetic engineering in the 21st century, viewing living cells as robotic-like systems that can be programmed for specific tasks. The development of a programming language for bacteria allows for precise control of gene expression, with applications ranging from new materials to pharmaceuticals. The collaborative approach in synthetic biology enables the combination of elements from various organisms to create innovative biological systems.

収穫

  • 🧬 Living cells are complex engineering substrates.
  • 🔬 Engineering cells can help identify and treat diseases.
  • 👩‍🔬 The speaker transitioned from chemical engineering to synthetic biology.
  • 🌐 Interdisciplinary teams are essential in this research.
  • 🛠️ MIT/Broad Foundry aims to advance DNA construction techniques.
  • 🤖 Living cells can be programmed like robots.
  • 💻 A programming language for bacteria allows for gene control.
  • 🌱 Applications span materials, pharmaceuticals, and agriculture.
  • 🔄 Researchers mix and match components from different organisms.
  • 🚀 The future holds more sophisticated biological products.

タイムライン

  • 00:00:00 - 00:04:05

    The speaker discusses the potential of engineering living cells to navigate the human body, identify diseases, and deliver therapies. They emphasize the challenge of harnessing biological capabilities for medical applications. The speaker, a synthetic biologist at MIT, shares their background in chemical engineering and biophysics, highlighting their journey from studying proteins to understanding cellular pathways. They lead diverse research groups and have initiated the MIT/Broad Foundry for Synthetic Biology to develop advanced DNA manufacturing techniques. The speaker believes this century will be pivotal for genetic engineering, viewing living cells as robotic systems that can be programmed to perform new functions. They describe a programming language created for bacteria that allows users to dictate cellular actions, with applications spanning materials, pharmaceuticals, and agriculture. The speaker notes a shift in biology towards cross-organism collaboration, enabling the combination of different biological components to create sophisticated living systems and products.

マインドマップ

ビデオQ&A

  • What is the main focus of the speaker's research?

    The speaker focuses on engineering living cells to navigate the human body, identify diseases, and deliver therapies.

  • What background does the speaker have?

    The speaker has a background in chemical engineering and biophysics, having never taken biology as an undergraduate.

  • What is the MIT/Broad Foundry for Synthetic Biology?

    It is a collaboration with the Broad Institute to develop a manufacturing pipeline for constructing sophisticated DNA.

  • How are living cells viewed in this research?

    Living cells are viewed as robotic-like systems that can be reprogrammed to perform tasks.

  • What applications does this research have?

    Applications include new materials, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and agriculture.

  • What is the significance of the programming language for bacteria?

    It allows users to program cells to perform specific functions by encoding the necessary DNA sequences.

  • How does the approach to biology differ now compared to the past?

    Researchers now work across different organisms, mixing and matching components to create desired living systems.

  • What is the future potential of engineering biology?

    As techniques improve, more sophisticated products and applications will emerge from engineered biology.

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  • 00:00:03
    (music)
  • 00:00:11
    Living cells are the ultimate engineering substrate.
  • 00:00:14
    They are the most difficult thing out there to be able to control.
  • 00:00:20
    Imagine being able to engineer a living cell
  • 00:00:24
    that could navigate the human body,
  • 00:00:26
    identify disease, and correct that disease.
  • 00:00:29
    That requires that
  • 00:00:31
    the cells be able to sense where they are in the body,
  • 00:00:34
    detect a disease state,
  • 00:00:36
    and deliver a therapeutic.
  • 00:00:37
    And that's something that biology, we know it can do,
  • 00:00:40
    but we don't know how to harness that as part of the medicine.
  • 00:00:43
    (music)
  • 00:00:46
    I'm a synthetic biologist,
  • 00:00:47
    and I'm in the Biological Engineering Department at MIT.
  • 00:00:50
    (music)
  • 00:00:52
    I've actually never taken biology,
  • 00:00:54
    So, as an undergrad, I was a chemical engineer,
  • 00:00:57
    and I very slowly got involved in biophysics.
  • 00:01:00
    First, with proteins, and then I became
  • 00:01:02
    and then I became interested in how proteins
  • 00:01:04
    come together in pathways,
  • 00:01:06
    and how the pathways come together to form a cell.
  • 00:01:08
    So I sort of increased the scale
  • 00:01:10
    at which I thought about living systems,
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    and as I did that, I started to learn
  • 00:01:15
    those types of techniques and
  • 00:01:18
    theory to go along with that.
  • 00:01:20
    (music)
  • 00:01:21
    Right now I essentially run two groups.
  • 00:01:24
    I run a group at MIT,
  • 00:01:26
    and that involves graduate students, and postdocs,
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    and the thing really characteristic
  • 00:01:31
    is how broad their backgrounds are.
  • 00:01:33
    So we have biologists, and chemical engineers,
  • 00:01:35
    electrical engineers, and computer science,
  • 00:01:37
    people from just about every field that you can imagine,
  • 00:01:41
    coming together.
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    I also recently started something called
  • 00:01:45
    the MIT/Broad Foundry for Synthetic Biology.
  • 00:01:48
    And this is where we're working with the Broad Institute
  • 00:01:51
    in order to develop a manufacturing pipeline
  • 00:01:53
    that enables the physical construction of DNA
  • 00:01:57
    that is much larger and more sophisticated,
  • 00:02:00
    meaning you have more parts than was previously possible.
  • 00:02:03
    (music)
  • 00:02:05
    I think this is the century of genetic engineering.
  • 00:02:07
    (music)
  • 00:02:09
    There are sensors that sit in the cell membrane
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    and they're receiving environmental information.
  • 00:02:14
    There are circuits that process that information,
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    and there are things that actuate what the cell can do.
  • 00:02:19
    And so in large part,
  • 00:02:21
    we view living cells as robotic-like systems,
  • 00:02:24
    that can be reprogramed
  • 00:02:26
    to do things they that don't normally do.
  • 00:02:28
    (music)
  • 00:02:30
    Something that's really important for engineering biology
  • 00:02:33
    is being able to tell genes under what conditions
  • 00:02:36
    and what timing they should turn on.
  • 00:02:37
    So to do this, we created a programing language
  • 00:02:41
    for bacteria.
  • 00:02:42
    So you would go in a user,
  • 00:02:45
    and using a language very much like
  • 00:02:47
    what you would use to program a computer,
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    you write what you want the cell to do,
  • 00:02:51
    and then the software figures out
  • 00:02:54
    what the DNA sequence is that encodes the proteins,
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    so that when you put it into the cells,
  • 00:02:59
    they run the program,
  • 00:03:00
    and are able to perform that computation.
  • 00:03:02
    There are applications in this research
  • 00:03:05
    from new materials, to pharmaceuticals, to chemicals,
  • 00:03:09
    agriculture...
  • 00:03:10
    Essentially, anything that you see
  • 00:03:13
    biology and nature doing,
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    we would like to be able to go in and manipulate that
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    so that we can create new materials
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    and pharmaceuticals, and so on.
  • 00:03:21
    (music)
  • 00:03:22
    Traditionally, biology has been separated by
  • 00:03:25
    what type of organism you're working with.
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    But now people are working across systems,
  • 00:03:29
    and they'll say,
  • 00:03:30
    "Well, I need this enzyme from a human cell,
  • 00:03:31
    or this structural protein from a yeast."
  • 00:03:34
    and they mix and match and combine them
  • 00:03:36
    in order to create the living system
  • 00:03:39
    that does what it wants it to do.
  • 00:03:41
    and as you go further and further,
  • 00:03:43
    you can imagine more and more sophisticated things
  • 00:03:46
    as we learn how to engineer the biology
  • 00:03:48
    and how to build the genetics,
  • 00:03:50
    we're going to continally be able to access
  • 00:03:52
    more sophisticated products from the field.
  • 00:03:53
    (music)
タグ
  • synthetic biology
  • genetic engineering
  • MIT
  • biophysics
  • living cells
  • disease detection
  • programming language
  • interdisciplinary research
  • biological systems
  • therapeutics