Paradigm shifts versus fashion shifts? Systems and synthetic biology as new epistemic entities in understanding and making 'life'.

Abstract

Molecular biology and information technology (IT) have become two of the leading research fields and technologies of our time. Systems and synthetic biology therefore seem to be an almost perfect match: not only do these approaches blend biology and IT, but they also promise enormous potential benefits ranging from medical applications and energy production to completely new methods and systems of manufacturing. Systems biology represents a conceptual and data‐driven move towards understanding and predicting molecular processes at higher levels of biological organization, including at the level of human beings. Synthetic biology redefines and expands the scope and power of applied biotechnology to design and create biological systems for all sorts of purposes. Not surprisingly, in the light of such an agenda, both research fields have been heralded, at the start of the new millennium, as new ways of doing biology. Often, such developments and accompanying claims are associated with the idea of new paradigms in the sciences. However, both 'system' and 'synthesis' are far from being novel approaches in biology, at least on the conceptual level. So, is the buzz about systems and synthetic biology just that, a buzz, or are we seeing substantial shifts in paradigms and research programmes, as well as in laboratory and industrial practices? At first glance, the question of whether systems biology is 'really' new and not just a quantitative change of degree, or whether synthetic biology 'really' does provide a completely new paradigm for biotechnology, might seem to be 'philosophical' in the malicious sense: who really cares about correct wording or abstract categories? In fact, there are substantial implications, because the labelling of emerging fields in science has important consequences on several levels. Given the limits and the competitive nature of public and private funding, the order of the day is to sell research …