David Kong (MIT), Joe Jacobson (MIT), George Church (Harvard), Megan Palmer (Stanford)

TA(s): Sebastian Kamau

Class Outline: http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/S63.21/class_site/pages/class_1.html

Skills covered: Overview of human practices in synthetic biology.

• Related Readings and Resources (Palmer)

  • Synthetic Genomics: Options for Governance This is an older but useful report for thinking about a variety of options for the governance of biotechnology that inspired this week’s homework

  • US Presidential Commission on the Study of Bioethical Issues Report: "New Directions: The Ethics of Synthetic Biology and Emerging Technologies” This report considers the ethics of biotechnology and other emerging technologies

  • iGEM Safety Hub: This page includes links to many useful resources including the WHO biosafety manual, the NIH guidelines and the CDC Biosafety in Microbial and Biomedical Laboratories Guide

  • Handbook for Community Biology Spaces: A handbook co-developed by community biolobabs, designed as a living document that can be updated and expanded by the community over time.

  • DIYBio Ask a biosafety expert This page includes a portal where you can get your biosafety questions answered by professionals

  • Synopsis of Biological Safety and Security Arrangements (Gronvall & Rozo (2015): This report describes biosafety and biosecurity rules and regulations in many countries

  • Rooftop Solar and the Four Levers of Social Change: A blog post from Ethan Zuckerman considering different types of ways of regulating behavior, adopted in part from Lawrence Lessig’s book: Code 2.0, and explored in the context of energy consumption and production

• Related Readings and Resources (Church, Jacobson, Kong)

  • Comprehensive AAV capsid fitness landscape reveals a viral gene and enables machine-guided design (Ogden, Kelsic, 2019)

  • Next-Generation Digital Information Storage in DNA (Church, Gao, Kosuri, 2012)

  • Rapidly evolving homing CRISPR barcodes (Kalhor, Mali, Church 2016)

  • Developmental barcoding of whole mouse via homing CRISPR (Kalhor, Mali, Church 2018)

  • Toward eliminating HLA class I expression to generate universal cells from allogeneic donors | Blood (ZFN: Torikai 2013)

  • A Multidrug-resistant Engineered CAR T Cell for Allogeneic Combination Immunotherapy (TALEN: Valton ... Poirot 2015- Cellectis)

  • CRISPR-Cas9-mediated multiplex gene editing in CAR-T cells (CRISPR: Yang, et al 2015)

  • Genome-wide inactivation of porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) (CRISPR: Yang, et al 2015)

  • Inactivation of porcine endogenous retrovirus in pigs using CRISPR-Cas9 (Niu, et al. 2017)

  • Full article: Harnessing gene drive (Min, Smidler, Najjar, Esvelt 2017)

  • Review The Hallmarks of Aging (Carlos López-Otín, et al. 2013)

  • A single combination gene therapy treats multiple age-related diseases (Noah Davidsohn et al. 2019)

Homework

Q1. First, describe a biological engineering application or tool you want to develop and why:

There are two kinds of projects I'd like to potentially develop during this course, one being a wearables project (as I have mostly only have been able to make models and not a proof of concept due to biosafety constraints), or to play with the idea the democratization of flavor synthesis.

I have always been fascinated with the public's perception of GMOs and have always wondered what it would be like (if it were to be a viable option under regulating bodies), to have a public facing brewery and synthesis dedicated to exploring flavors through genetically modified organisms. For some breweries and wineries, it is common to have in house laboratories that are dedicated to the QA of products, and brewers will develop (if not already having degrees in microbiology) a really good working knowledge of microbial ecologies and its potential variations.

Q2. Next, describe one or more governance/policy goals related to ensuring that this application or tool contributes to an "ethical" future, like ensuring non-malfeasance (preventing harm). Break big goals down into two or more specific sub-goals:

Q3. Next describe at least three different potential governance "actions", each presented in four sections:

Q4. Last, drawing upon this scoring, describe which governance option, or combination of options, you would prioritize, and why. Outline any trade-offs you considered as well as assumptions and uncertainties.

Currently, as classification of biomaterials and things with living systems still has grey areas, I would focus on industry to help develop safe protocols for handling as well as focus on education initiatives for the public to embrace the potential benefits in environmental sustainability through genetically modified organisms. For what producers and small scale manufacturers currently have access to currently is quite innate, and more sophisticated employment of genetically engineered biological systems for consumer based consumption cannot currently be produced cheaply. But in preparation of upcoming innovations to be marketable to a consumer basis, education initiatives, and campaigns should be tested out in market groups to understand potential trends and demands and predict regulations in supply chains.