合成生物学をめぐっては、その工学的概念が生命体にたやすく応用されることになるのではという思い込みをはじめ、商業的成功が約束されているのだろうという懐疑、安全性の担保に対する疑念、人が生命体を作成・操作することに対する懸念など、誤解が少なくないのが現状です。合成生物学が今日の科学技術に及ぼす影響について、信頼の置ける簡潔な解説を提供します。
  

• Introduces the exciting new and rapidly growing field of synthetic biology
• Discusses some of its applications, such as tackling pollution and developing new drugs
• Explores the possibility of creating new life from non-living starting materials
• Considers the risks and core ethical implications of synthetic biology

 
Synthetic biology is one of the 21st century's fastest growing fields of research, as important for technology as for basic science. Building on traditional genetic engineering, which was restricted to changing one or two genes, synthetic biology uses multi-gene modules and pathways to make very significant changes to what cells can do. Synthetic biologists aim to have an impact in fields as diverse as drug manufacture, biofuel production, tackling pollution, and medical diagnostics. Further ahead, synthetic biology may even make possible the long-standing goal of creating new life from non-living starting materials.

This Very Short Introduction provides a concise explanation of what synthetic biology is, and how it is beginning to affect many fields of technology. Jamie Davies also discusses the considerable controversies surrounding synthetic biology, from questions over the assumption that engineering concepts can be applied to living systems easily, to scepticism over the claims for commercial promise, fears that the dangers of engineering life are worse than its benefits, and concerns over whether humans should be designing living systems at all.