Mammalian synthetic biology – from tools to therapies

Abstract

Mammalian synthetic biology holds the promise of providing novel therapeutic strategies, and the first success stories are beginning to be reported. Here we focus on the latest generation of mammalian transgene control devices, highlight state-of-the-art synthetic gene network design, and cover prototype therapeutic circuits. These will have an impact on future gene- and cell-based therapies and help bring drug discovery into a new era. The inventory of biological parts that are essential for life on this planet is becoming increasingly complete. The postgenomic era has provided encyclopedic information on gene-function correlations and systems biology is now delivering comprehensive details on the dynamics of biochemical reaction networks in living organisms. The time has come to reassemble these catalogued items and design new biological devices and systems with novel and useful functionality in a rational and systematic manner. This is the premise of synthetic biology, a constructive systems biology discipline likely to become the life science revolution of the 21(st) century.