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  • © 2014

Synthetic Biology

From iGEM to the Artificial Cell

  • The book will be the first short book on the potential of Synthetic Biology
  • The book will be of interest to both active researchers, as well as to a wider non-specialist audience
  • The book will present a unique, concise account of Synthetic Biology
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BRIEFSBIOCHEM, volume 12)

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Softcover Book USD 54.99
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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
  2. What Is Synthetic Biology?

    • Manuel Porcar, Juli Peretó
    Pages 1-7
  3. What Was Synthetic Biology?

    • Manuel Porcar, Juli Peretό
    Pages 9-22
  4. What Is Life?

    • Manuel Porcar, Juli Peretó
    Pages 23-32
  5. Strategies for Making Life

    • Manuel Porcar, Juli Peretó
    Pages 33-44
  6. Synthetic Biology in Action

    • Manuel Porcar, Juli Peretó
    Pages 45-53
  7. The iGEM Competition

    • Manuel Porcar, Juli Peretó
    Pages 55-62
  8. Are We Doing Synthetic Biology?

    • Manuel Porcar, Juli Peretó
    Pages 63-68
  9. Back Matter

    Pages 69-77

About this book

Synthetic Biology (SB) is a revolutionary discipline with a vast range of practical applications, but is SB research really based on engineering principles? Does it contributing to the artificial synthesis of life or does it utilise approaches sufficiently advanced to fall outside the scope of biotechnology or metabolic engineering? This volume reviews the development of SB and includes the major milestones of the discipline, the ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ approaches towards the construction of an artificial cell and the development of the “iGEM” competition. We conclude that SB is an emerging field with extraordinary technological potential, but that most research projects actually are an extension of metabolic engineering since the complexity of living organisms, their tight dependence on evolution and our limited knowledge of the interactions between the molecules, actually make life difficult to engineer.

Authors and Affiliations

  • General Foundation and Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, Paterna, Spain

    Manuel Porcar

  • Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, Paterna, Spain

    Juli Peretó

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access