Synthetic biologists engineer complex artificial biological systems to investigate natural
biological phenomena and for a variety of applications. We outline the basic features of synthetic …

Many biotechnology capabilities are limited by stringent storage needs of reagents, largely
prohibiting use outside of specialized laboratories. Focusing on a large class of protein-…

Microbial consortia form when multiple species colocalize and communally generate a
function that none is capable of alone. Consortia abound in nature, and their cooperative …

It is generally assumed that antibiotics can promote horizontal gene transfer. However, because
of a variety of confounding factors that complicate the interpretation of previous studies, …

In this paper, we review an emerging engineering discipline to programcell behaviors by
embedding synthetic gene networks that performcomputation, communications, and signal …

Metabolic pathways are often engineered in single microbial populations. However, the
introduction of heterologous circuits into the host can create a substantial metabolic burden that …

The origin of biological morphology and form is one of the deepest problems in science,
underlying our understanding of development and the functioning of living systems. In 1952, …

Synthetic biology offers great promise to a variety of applications through the forward engineering
of biological function. Most efforts in this field have focused on employing living cells, …

Highlights • Cell-free protein expression systems offer a flexible, safe path for biosensing and
remediation. • Cell-free regulatory networks enable sophisticated sensing and remediation …

Software vulnerabilities that enable the injection and execution of malicious code in pervasive
Internet-connected computing devices pose serious threats to cyber security. In a common …