Author: Lars J. Brandén
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789162848699
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 43

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Book Description

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309465184
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 189

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Book Description
Scientific advances over the past several decades have accelerated the ability to engineer existing organisms and to potentially create novel ones not found in nature. Synthetic biology, which collectively refers to concepts, approaches, and tools that enable the modification or creation of biological organisms, is being pursued overwhelmingly for beneficial purposes ranging from reducing the burden of disease to improving agricultural yields to remediating pollution. Although the contributions synthetic biology can make in these and other areas hold great promise, it is also possible to imagine malicious uses that could threaten U.S. citizens and military personnel. Making informed decisions about how to address such concerns requires a realistic assessment of the capabilities that could be misused. Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology explores and envisions potential misuses of synthetic biology. This report develops a framework to guide an assessment of the security concerns related to advances in synthetic biology, assesses the levels of concern warranted for such advances, and identifies options that could help mitigate those concerns.

Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309219396
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 570

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Book Description
Many potential applications of synthetic and systems biology are relevant to the challenges associated with the detection, surveillance, and responses to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. On March 14 and 15, 2011, the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) Forum on Microbial Threats convened a public workshop in Washington, DC, to explore the current state of the science of synthetic biology, including its dependency on systems biology; discussed the different approaches that scientists are taking to engineer, or reengineer, biological systems; and discussed how the tools and approaches of synthetic and systems biology were being applied to mitigate the risks associated with emerging infectious diseases. The Science and Applications of Synthetic and Systems Biology is organized into sections as a topic-by-topic distillation of the presentations and discussions that took place at the workshop. Its purpose is to present information from relevant experience, to delineate a range of pivotal issues and their respective challenges, and to offer differing perspectives on the topic as discussed and described by the workshop participants. This report also includes a collection of individually authored papers and commentary.

Author: Li Kim Lee
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Author: Alain Rolland
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 0824748581
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
This volume examines the advantages and limitations of the major gene delivery systems and offers guidelines to select the most appropriate viral or synthetic delivery system for specific therapeutic applications. It discusses advances in the design, optimization, and adaptation of gene delivery systems for the treatment of cancerous, cardiovascular, pulmonary, genetic, and infectious diseases.

Author: Thomas Kean
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cancer
Languages : en
Pages : 582

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Book Description

Author: Philip L. Felgner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Discusses recent advances in artificial self-assembling systems, including retrotransposon vectors, hairpin ribozymes, triple-helix-forming oligonucleotides, liposome-mediated transfection, and photonic nanostructures. Addresses developing efficient synthetic vectors such as modular self-assembling systems mimicking important features of viral vectors. Presents new developments in synthetic self-assembling gene delivery systems, including innovations in nonviral systems, targeting nucleic acids, ligand-polylysine mediated transfer, dendrimer-mediated transfection, cationic liposomes, and polylysine DNA complexes.

Author: James-Kevin Young Tan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
The natural neurogenesis after neuron death in cases like traumatic brain injury and neurological diseases is sparse. Increasing the replenishment of functional neurons can improve patient outcome and prognosis. One way to encourage neurogenesis is by selective differentiation of neural progenitor cells and neural stem cells in the brain. Gene delivery has emerged as a promising strategy to accomplish this due to the development of effective gene transfer vehicles and the identification of factors that can modulate neural differentiation. The first half of this thesis focuses on improving the efficacy of synthetic gene delivery vehicles. Typically, negative-charged DNA is condensed and protected from degradation by complexing it with positively charged materials. These cationic materials improve gene transfection efficiency by enabling for endosomal uptake and escape from the lysosomal degradation pathway. However, the cationic nature of the materials also brings about deleterious effects such as cell cytotoxicity. Therefore, a there is a balance between transfection efficiency and cytotoxicity with cationic vectors. Strategies to reduce cytotoxicity and improve upon transfection efficiency are explored in this section. Even with the most effective transfection agents, a major hurdle is reaching the neural progenitor cells and neural stem cells in the subventricular zone of the brain. The blood-brain barrier and the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier effectively block substances from reaching the brain parenchyma after systemic and intraventricular injection. Recently, the use of microbubbles and ultrasound have been shown to transiently disrupt the blood-brain barrier and allow the permeation of larger molecular drugs into the brain parenchyma. Microbubbles and ultrasound will be investigated as a way to disrupt the brain-cerebrospinal fluid barrier and increase the permeation of our gene delivery vehicles into the brain in the second half of this thesis.

Author: Dan Luo
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780306477010
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
DNA delivery into cells is a rapidly developing area in gene therapy and biotechnology. Moreover, it is a powerful research tool to determine gene structure, regulation, and function. Viral methods of DNA delivery are well-characterized and efficient, but little is known about the toxicity and immunogenecity of viral vectors. As a result, non-viral, transfection methods of DNA delivery are of increasing interest. Synthetic DNA Delivery Systems is a comprehensive and current resource on DNA transfection. The use of histidine-rich peptides and polypeptides as DNA delivery systems and self-assembled delivery systems based on cationic lipids and polymers are discussed. Targeted delivery to organelles, tumor cells and dendritic cells comprise an important topic.

Author: Vikram Singh
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9401795142
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
This textbook has been conceptualized to provide a detailed description of the various aspects of Systems and Synthetic Biology, keeping the requirements of M.Sc. and Ph.D. students in mind. Also, it is hoped that this book will mentor young scientists who are willing to contribute to this area but do not know from where to begin. The book has been divided into two sections. The first section will deal with systems biology – in terms of the foundational understanding, highlighting issues in biological complexity, methods of analysis and various aspects of modelling. The second section deals with the engineering concepts, design strategies of the biological systems ranging from simple DNA/RNA fragments, switches and oscillators, molecular pathways to a complete synthetic cell will be described. Finally, the book will offer expert opinions in legal, safety, security and social issues to present a well-balanced information both for students and scientists.