ABSTRACT
Student: M.V.Rambhupal Reddy
Venue: B404 Class room
The synthetic genome technology developed enable biologists to build microbes capable of solving human needs in medicine, bio energy and industry. In 2010, a team of synthetic biologists from the J.Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) announced the creation of a bacterial cell that had a chemically synthesized genome. To build the synthetic Mycoplasma mycoides two sets of methods were developed. First method involves the development of 1.1 Mbp of M.mycoides genome by the process called genome assembly and the second method is the Genome Transplantation. Currently these methods are being applied to cyanobacteria with the aim of making genome modifications that would enable photosynthetic production of bio fuels and high value chemicals. These methods are also being used in the rapid production of more effective vaccines against influenza virus. There has been an ethical discussion concerning synthetic life from the earliest stages of this work. As synthetic genomic applications expand, it leads to rise of philosophical issues that have broad societal and ethical implications.
Venue: B404 Class room
Date: 19/09/2011
Time: 9:30am