From computer code to genetic code… From electronic circuit to genetic circuit. The time has come for the Engineers of Life where we program bacteria like we program a computer, with DNA, the “software of life”.

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This is what Chris Voigt and Ron Weiss, professors of bioengineering at MIT, are doing. Chris is also co-director of the Center for Synthetic Biology at MIT. They are fascinated by the extraordinary capacity of living things to adapt to the world around them.

Each cell has functions, detection circuits, decision-making, coded in DNA. Ron and Chris are programming new biological systems capable of analyzing their environment and responding to it. To do this, they have an enormous library of DNA strands, the spare parts that allow them to transform a cell into a useful machine... particularly in the field of Health.

Jim Collins, professor of biomedical engineering in Boston, seeks to make resistant bacteria vulnerable. He modified the genome of bacteriophages so that they produced enzymes capable of breaking down the envelopes that protect the bacteria.

Jérôme Bonnet, researcher in synthetic biology at the structural biochemistry center in Montpellier, wants to program a cell capable of detecting cancer biomarkers.
For this djembe player, doing synthetic biology is like writing a complex musical score based on a simple rhythm.

Martin Fussenegger, professor of biotechnology and biological engineering at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich, manufactures “bio sensors” that monitor an organism's metabolism in the blood: lipid levels in cases of obesity , and glucose in case of diabetes. These cells supervise the body at every moment, take care of the diagnosis, and the first intervention if necessary, by producing a therapeutic protein.

Eléonore Pauwels, associate researcher at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, questions the speed of development of this techno-science. The word “synthesis” does not have good press today… And how can we anticipate bio-safety and bio-security problems?
These discoveries affect our common good, life... Who will be the owner of this living 2.0...? Some campaign for open source, others file patents.

Directors: Charles-Antoine de Rouvre and Jérôme Scemla
© THE COMPAGNIE DES TAXI-BROUSSE - 2016