ISGP Podcast: License to Build

The “building blocks” of synthetic biology can create new antimicrobials while switching the process of antibiotic discovery from industry-level to academia. Could synbio be the key to overcoming antibiotic resistance? Antibiotic resistance is not only a major international issue in and of itself, but pharmaceutical companies have also reduced efforts in finding new varieties. Scientists can use synthetic biology principles as tools to construct or alter the genetic blueprint of, say, a microorganism so that it can produce useful substances, such as insulin or antibiotics. The genes that make up a beneficial-substance-producing organism. Scientists could, for instance, build their own antibiotic-producing bacteria by selecting the appropriate gene.

These issues were presented by in a paper written by Eriko Takano and Rainer Breitling, titled Antimicrobial Resistance – A New Drug Discovery Perspective using Synthetic Biology. The issues were presented by Dr. Takano and discussed in the ISGP conference Emerging and Persistent Infectious Diseases: Focus on Antimicrobial Resistance in Houston, Texas, in 2013. Drs. Takano and Breitling are both , professors from the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, and their position paper from this conference was titled Antimicrobial Resistance – A New Drug Discovery Perspective using Synthetic Biology.

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