We are delighted to announce a themed issue on Materials Chemistry in the Emerging Field of Synthetic Biology that will be published in Journal of Materials Chemistry. The guest editors for this themed issue are Professor Cameron Alexander (University of Nottingham, UK) and Dr Rachel O’Reilly (Warwick University, UK). Please contact the Editorial Office if you are interested in contributing to the themed issue.
The deadline for the receipt of manuscripts for this themed issue is 21st May 2011.
Synthetic biology is a rapidly developing area of science with potentially far-reaching consequences. While much publicity has centred on what constitutes this scientific field and what possible ethical issues might be invoked, before there can be any real practical progress there needs to be a fundamental shift in the synthesis aspects of synthetic biology. Biological processes utilise highly evolved self-assembly mechanisms and a plethora of error-correction strategies in order to generate functional materials, which in combination form the working machinery of the cell. For synthetic counterparts, new chemistries will be needed to generate the precise structures that give rise to function, or to modify existing machineries in order to create wholly new behaviours.
Materials chemistry is central to this endeavour. In particular, the long-standing focus on supramolecular structure and order, function at multiple lengthscales, and emergent properties, in materials chemistry equips scientists in this area with an advantageous ‘mindset’ for synthetic biology. The ‘top-down’ approach involves re-engineering existing tools from biology to generate novel functions (IGEM etc), or even organisms (Venter). Modifications of gene circuits to do different tasks than those evolved in nature require an understanding of the biological materials that perform these functions – this is materials chemistry but applied to biological molecules and assemblies (Seeman, Turberfield). The ‘bottom-up’ approach involves completely new structures and functions that can be completely abiotic in origin, but biomimetic (or possibly ‘biosuperior’) in function. Chemistries for forming artificial cell walls (van Hest, others) and artificial actuators (Ryan, others) show how sophisticated properties can arise from relatively simple building blocks, if designed and put together in ingenious ways. The work by Cronin et al shows the extreme abiotic end of emergent synthetic biology, while that of Szostak and Mansy exemplifies a hybrid approach wherein natural components are incorporated into novel frameworks to perform synthetic biology functions. Computational materials chemistry is another important component, as not only can life-like behaviour be programmed in silico, but increasingly, insights from complex computational algorithms can be used to design synthetic biology processes such as vesicle assembly, budding and replication that can be tested in the ‘wet’ laboratory (Krasnogor).
Overall, this themed issue covers the key materials chemistries that will help to define the exciting field of synthetic biology to come. There are many opportunities in this field, and materials chemistry is at its heart.
All manuscripts will be refereed in accordance to the standard procedures of Journal of Materials Chemistry, and in this respect invited articles will be treated in the same way as regular submissions to the journal.
We look forward to hearing from you if you’re interested in contributing to this themed issue.
