What are the future trends in synthetic biology?

Scientists are harnessing the power of the synthetic biology field of science that involves redesigning biological components to generate novel synthetic entities in hopes of solving scientific problems and drive innovation in medicine. Synthetic biology provides new and more effective tools for turning digital information into DNA or proteins, ranging from DNA based vaccines to the ability to store digital information in the strands of DNA.

To meet the ever-increasing demands for printed DNA across the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, vaccine, and agricultural markets, synthetic biology has led to the development of the world's first fully automated DNA printer. This system takes digital information, like the sequence of a gene, and transforms it into a real-life gene or protein. 

Current discussions focus on the creation of Codex DNA’s synthetic SARS-CoV-2 genome and how this can be used to aid the development of therapeutic and diagnostic strategies against COVID-19. 

The use of DNA to advance drug discovery, vaccine development, and metabolic engineering programs is a growing trend in the field of medicine. 

For the next few years, the ability to rapidly and accurately produce DNA will continue to create strong demand in drug discovery to identify safer, more effective drugs and vaccines for both cancer and infectious diseases.

In cancer therapeutics, patients are benefiting from the so-called CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) technology, which engineers the immune cells (T-cells) of the patient to recognize and attack cancer cells.

The ability to reprogram somatic cells from patients into induced pluripotent stem cells is furthering our understanding of their disease, reducing the use of animals in research, and paving the way for the development of personalized medicines and cell therapies. In principle at least, this could engineer a patient's own cells to multiply, differentiate into different cell types, and even self-assemble into new tissues, or even organs, to repair those damaged through disease or injury.

Engineering the microbiome is expected to lead to the development of synthetic probiotics.

The synthetic biology initiative known as Human Genome Project-write (HGP-write) has set its sights even higher, rallying scientists to build entire human chromosomes. 

In the future, synthetic biology can revolutionize the field of biomedicine through enhanced personalized medicine, cancer therapeutics, microbiome research, and breakthroughs in infectious diseases.