McLennan, Alison --- "Building with BioBricks: Constructing a Commons for Synthetic Biology Research" [2012] ELECD 137; in Rimmer, Matthew; McLennan, Alison (eds), "Intellectual Property and Emerging Technologies" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Intellectual Property and Emerging Technologies

Editor(s): Rimmer, Matthew; McLennan, Alison

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849802468

Section: Chapter 7

Section Title: Building with BioBricks: Constructing a Commons for Synthetic Biology Research

Author(s): McLennan, Alison

Number of pages: 27

Extract:

7. Building with BioBricks:
constructing a commons for
synthetic biology research
Alison McLennan

On 21 May 2010, scientists at the J Craig Venter Institute in the United
States announced that they had made a `self-replicating synthetic bacterial
cell'.1 This achievement is the most famous outcome of synthetic biology, a
burgeoning new field of biotechnology research. The achievement was
made possible by our increasing ability to build DNA from its components
and to stitch it together to form synthetic genomes.
The disciplines of molecular biotechnology, chemical engineering,
genomics, and information technology converge in this new field of syn-
thetic biology. With its promise of improved medical treatments and
greener energy sources, along with its potential risks of bioterrorism and
damage to the environment or human health, synthetic biology has been
increasingly capturing the public imagination and attracting government
and commercial attention. This excitement reached a crescendo with the
announcement of the successful construction of the synthetic bacterial cell.
Even the United States President Barack Obama joined the ensuing debate,
asking his Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues to
investigate synthetic biology.2
This chapter will provide an overview of the field of synthetic biology,
focusing in particular on the branch of synthetic biology that uses `stand-
ard biological parts'. The chapter will then address the approach to intellec-
tual property, sharing and commons development in this `parts agenda'.

1
Gibson, D. et al. (2010), `Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically
Synthesized Genome', Science, 329 ( ...