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Synthetic biology for nanotechnology

REVIEW ARTICLE

Philip Ball

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TUTORIAL

Synthetic biology—the redesign of biological molecules, structures and organisms—is potentially one of the most powerful emerging technologies today. The modification of biological structures has already been pursued for a variety of nanotechnological objectives; but synthetic biology could provide the tools and understanding needed both to develop 'nanobiotechnology' in a more systematic manner and to expand the scope of what it might achieve. In this article I shall review what has been attained so far in this field, and look at some of the nanoscale possibilities that an engineering approach to cell biology might herald.


PACS

87.15.B- Structure of biomolecules

87.16.-b Subcellular structure and processes

87.14.G- Nucleic acids

87.14.E- Proteins

87.80.-y Biophysical techniques (research methods)

Subjects

Instrumentation and measurement

Medical physics

Biological physics

Dates

Issue 1 (January 2005)

Received 19 October 2004, in final form 21 October 2004

Published 8 December 2004



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