About us
The completion of the human genome marks the end of the reductionist era of biology. We can now sequence a microbe in a morning and do a molecular inventory in a week. Knowing what is there, however, tells us disappointingly little about how it works as a whole; it’s a bit like trying to predict the flight properties of a 747 from a list of its 6 million components, only a whole lot more difficult! The new era of so-called systems biology is about tackling this challenge.
Engineers have tackled the same type of challenge for mechanical, electrical and chemical systems over the last 100 years. The emerging field of bioengineering is doing the same for biological systems. Engineers, however, do more than developing tools for better understanding (analysis); engineers use these tools to design products and processes for human benefit (synthesis). We are rapidly moving from retrofitting living systems with a single or few genes using genetic engineering, to the design of living systems from scratch using systems biology.
Systems and synthetic biology is radically changing existing industries such as the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, while creating new industries such tissue engineering to make replacement parts for an aging population.
In the Systems & Synthetic Biology group at AIBN, we work both on developing the fundamentals of this emerging science and its application to a broad range of living systems. We work closely with a number of companies interested in pursuing emerging opportunities in this field.