"Synthetic biology" that integrates living things and electronic parts is rapidly developing

Integrate biological research to apply life function and life system to engineering "Synthetic biology (synthetic biology)"The academic field has become popular. The US military laboratory expects sensors and actuators using microorganisms to appear within the next 10 years.

The Army's looking into putting bacteria into its electronics | Ars Technica
http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/12/the-armys-looking-into-putting-bacteria-into-its-electronics/

The United States Army Military Research Institute (ARL) is a synthesis aimed at enhancing human ability, making electronic parts, and making autonomous life devices by synthesizing life forms and non-life forms I am promoting research on biology. Dr. Brin Adams of ARL predicts that synthetic biology will be put to practical use closely, saying, "With progress in synthetic biology, we are at the starting point where organisms can be used to control electronic terminals" .


Synthetic biology is an academic application of the biological knowledge of the mechanism of life forms to the engineering field, but it has made remarkable evolution in the 2000s as it succeeded in elucidating the DNA sequence and synthesizing DNA And that. A system like biofuel that generates energy from waste has already reached near practical level.

However, what synthetic biology is aiming as a next step is an electronic device that self-creates energy through photosynthesis, and it is very difficult to arrange such "biological systems in non-organisms" Thing. According to Dr. Adams, although experiments using E. coli for hosts incorporating gene circuits have succeeded in recording simple information, this is only under a specific environment called a laboratory, and even in a natural environment It is not possible to maintain and maintain the function.


However, the speed of progress of synthetic biology is impressive, Dr. Adams expects that engineered cells will be integrated into the ecosystem within 5 years. Specifically, the Army is thinking to apply synthetic biology so as to strengthen soldier, increase resilience, and increase immunity against specific infectious diseases. And 10 years later, we integrate living things and non-living things to make simple sensors and actuators, and we anticipate practical application of synthetic biology will progress not only in the military and government but also at the private level.