• Question: What is synthetic biology?

    Asked by Diti to Max on 16 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Max Jamilly

      Max Jamilly answered on 16 Mar 2018:


      Awesome question. Traditionally, biology is all about understanding how living things work. How does a cell release energy? How do bacteria sense their environment? How does the heart beat? Synthetic biology (synbio for short) takes what we already know about biology and uses it to build new things: batteries made of cells, tiny living sensors based on bacteria, funky biomaterials which rhythmically contract like heart muscle.
      It’s a really fast-moving and creative field and I get to work with engineers and mathematicians and designers and biologists and chemists. Let me know if you’re interested to learn more!

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