Synthetic gene circuits for the detection, elimination and prevention of disease

Nature Biomedical Engineering  June 11, 2018
In living organisms, naturally evolved sensors that constantly monitor and process environmental cues trigger corrective actions that enable the organisms to cope with changing conditions. This has inspired the biologists to construct synthetic living sensors and signaling pathways, by repurposing naturally occurring proteins and by designing molecular building blocks de novo, for customized diagnostics and therapeutics. In this Review, an international team of researchers (Switzerland, France) describe the biomedical applications of synthetic gene circuits in major disease areas and discuss how the first genetically engineered devices developed based on synthetic-biology principles made the leap from the laboratory to the clinic… read more.