"Father of Synthetic Biology"
Often referred to as the “father of synthetic biology”, Tom Knight originally started out as a computer engineer at MIT. Through his additional interest in molecular biology, Knight developed his own combination of biology and engineering, thus forming the new area of synthetic biology. In his own lab, he developed a system called BioBricks, allowing for basic DNA synthesis. With this, Knight pioneered the field of synthetic biology.
In addition to his discovery, Knight aided the emergence of Ginkgo BioWorks, another bioengineering company focused on safe products for the horticulture industry.
Innovators
Synthetic Biology Companies
"At the J. Craig Venter Institute we believe we all share a responsibility to find new energy sources and to uncover ways to mitigate our negative impact on the planet. We're using our pioneering genomic science to explore new biologically-driven sources of energy." Visit their website here.
"The BIOFAB: International Open Facility Advancing Biotechnology (BIOFAB) was founded in December 2009 as the world's first biological design-build facility. BioFab projects will be designed to produce broadly useful collections of standard biological parts that can be made freely available to both academic and commercial users, while also enabling the rapid design and prototyping of genetic constructs needed to support specific needs of partner efforts such as SynBERC Testbeds." Visit their website here.
"Founded in early 2003, DNA2.0 is a privately-held, leading synthetic biology company, headquartered in Menlo Park, CA. It is the largest US provider of synthetic genes, with a global customer base comprised of academia, government and the pharmaceutical, chemical, agricultural and biotechnology industries." Visit their website here.
"The Synthetic Biology Institute at UC Berkeley (SBI) is working to make the engineering of new complex function in cells vastly more efficient, reliable, predictable, and safe. Its breakthroughs will speed the development of biologically engineered solutions to pressing global problems related to health, materials, energy, environment, and security." Visit their website here.
"The Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC) is a multi-institution research effort to lay the foundation for the emerging field of synthetic biology. SynBERC’s vision is to catalyze biology as an engineering discipline by developing the foundational understanding and technologies to allow researchers to design and build standardized, integrated biological systems to accomplish many particular tasks." Visit their website here.
