Category: Educational resources
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Your Vanilla Ice Cream Is About to Get Weirder
This article originally appeared in Mother Jones. By Tom Philpott Wed Jun. 4, 2014 Synthetic biology—or “synbio” for short—is the stuff of science fiction brought to life. Whereas standard-issue biotechnology involves inserting a gene from one organism into another, synbio entails stuff like inserting computer-generated DNA sequences into living cells: i.e, creating new organisms altogether. […]
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Synthetic Biology: Rebranding Extreme Genetic Engineering
By Jaydee Hanson, Senior Policy Analyst, Centre for Food Safety This article is reposted from the Centre for Food Safety web site. Some years ago, bread companies got the word that customers wanted more fiber in their bread. Instead of making more of their bread with whole grains, a few companies actually put in wood […]
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Human Applications of Synthetic Biology (Resource List)
A listing of articles on human applications of synthetic biology (updated 5-24-13). ****** General Gods and Monsters Mark Dowie, Mother Jones, January/February 2004 [Talking apes, flying pigs, superhumans with armadillo attributes, and other strange considerations of Dr. Stuart Newman’s fight to patent a human/animal chimera] Big Promises Backed by Bad Theory Eric Hoffman and Stuart Newman, GEN, May […]
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Map of Synthetic Biology Sites in San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area is at ground zero in the explosion of Synthetic Biology Labs and other related facilities. According to a recent survey by the Wilson Center there are already 37 such sites in the Bay.
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Video: Corporate Biotech Green vs. Ecological Green – Vandana Shiva & Gopal Dayaneni
Vandana Shiva, PhD in conversation with Gopal Dayaneni, of Movement Generation: Justice and Ecology Project. World renowned environmental philosopher and activist Vandana Shiva illuminates the corporate assault on biological and cultural diversity and helps us connect the dots: What is the East Bay “Green Corridor,” who is creating it, and what does it mean for […]
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Green Greed – Seeds of Injustice, By Vandana Shiva
Originally published on Asian Age and Navdanya.org “The “green economy” agenda… could well become the blueprint for the biggest resource grab in history, with corporations appropriating the planet’s green wealth and biodiversity.” “Big oil, big pharma, big food, big seed companies are joining hands to appropriate biodiversity and biomass — the living carbon, thereby extending […]
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Synthetic Vanilla Fact Sheet – Friends of the Earth
Originally published by Friends of the Earth Synthetic Biology Vanillin: not natural, not sustainable, not likely to be labeled, and coming to an ice-cream cone near you. A new ingredient is about to enter the global food supply in many of our favorite foods from ice cream to birthday cake. And like many of the […]
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Workshop on containment and release of engineered micro-organisms; Kings College London
On 29th April 2013 King’s College London Centre for Synthetic Biology and Innovation held a workshop on “Synthetic Biology: containment and release of engineered micro-organisms” at King’s College London. The workshop brought together key stakeholders (synthetic biologists, microbiologists, regulators, NGOs, research funders and social scientists) to discuss the prospects for micro-organisms produced by synthetic biology that […]
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Synthetic Biology: The Bioeconomy of Landlessness and Hunger
by the ETC Group Originally published by ETCGroup.org For the full briefing please download the PDF file. Synthetic biology represents a quantum advance on biotechnology, and goes beyond transferring genes between species to constructing entirely new, self-replicating microorganisms that have the potential (partially proven / partially theoretical) to convert any biomass or carbon feedstock into any product that […]
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Mapping the Growth Of Synthetic Biology: Wilson Center Findings For 2013
View the map Download the PDF summary of findings Except from the Wilson Center TRACKING THE GROWTH OF SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY: FINDINGS FOR 2013: Major Findings: The number of entities conducting research in synthetic biology increased significantly between 2009 and 2013, resulting in a total of 508 unique entities in the 2013 inventory [See footnotes1 2 […]