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Synthetic Biology

Encyclopedia of Systems and Control

Abstract

The past decade has seen tremendous advances in DNA recombination and measurement techniques. These advances have reached a point in which de novo creation of biomolecular circuits that accomplish new functions is now possible, leading to the birth of a new field called synthetic biology. Sophisticated functions that are highly sought in synthetic biology range from recognizing and killing cancer cells, to neutralizing radioactive waste, to efficiently transforming feedstock into fuel, to control the differentiation of tissue cells. To reach these objectives, however, there are a number of open problems that the field has to overcome. Many of these problems require a system-level understanding of the dynamical and robustness properties of interacting systems, and hence, the field of control and dynamical systems theory may highly contribute. In this entry, we review the basic technology employed in synthetic biology and a number of simple modules and complex systems created using this technology and discuss key system-level problems along with challenging research questions for the field of control theory.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Domitilla Del Vecchio

  2. Control and Dynamical Systems, Caltech, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Richard M. Murray

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  1. Domitilla Del Vecchio
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  2. Richard M. Murray
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Correspondence to Domitilla Del Vecchio .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    John Baillieul

  2. Automation and Control Solutions, Honeywell, Golden Valley, Minnesota, USA

    Tariq Samad

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Vecchio, D.D., Murray, R.M. (2014). Synthetic Biology. In: Baillieul, J., Samad, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Systems and Control. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5102-9_91-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5102-9_91-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-5102-9

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Synthetic Biology
    Published:
    28 February 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5102-9_91-2

  2. Original

    Synthetic Biology
    Published:
    04 September 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5102-9_91-1

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