Sarah R. Carter, PhD, is a Principal at Science Policy Consulting, LLC, Arlington, Virginia. Christopher M. Warner, PhD, is a Research Biologist, US Army Corps , Environmental Lab, Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Health Secur. 2018 Sep/Oct;16(5):320-333. doi: 10.1089/hs.2018.0067.
Recent developments in synthetic biology tools and techniques are driving commercialization of a wide range of products for human health, agriculture, environmental stewardship, and other purposes. This article reviews some of the trends in synthetic biology applications as well as some of the tools enabling these and future advances. These tools and capabilities are being developed in the context of a rapidly changing industry, which may have an impact on the rate and direction of progress. Final products are subject to a regulatory framework that is being challenged by the pace, scale, and novelty of this new era of biotechnology. This article includes discussion of these factors and how they may affect product design and the types of applications that are most likely to be supported and pursued commercially. The final section provides perspective on the security implications of these advances, with a focus on US interests.
合成生物学工具和技术的最新发展正在推动广泛的人类健康、农业、环境管理和其他用途的产品的商业化。本文综述了合成生物学应用的一些趋势，以及一些使这些和未来的进步成为可能的工具。这些工具和能力是在一个快速变化的行业背景下开发的，这可能会影响到进展的速度和方向。最终产品受到监管框架的制约，而这一框架正受到这一新生物技术时代的速度、规模和新颖性的挑战。本文讨论了这些因素，以及它们如何影响产品设计和最有可能得到商业支持和追求的应用类型。最后一节着眼于美国的利益，就这些进展的安全影响提供了一些看法。
