Download or read book Synthetic Biology and the Question of Public Participation written by Stephanie Siewert and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book considers the relationship between governance and participation, and the ways participation has been understood, framed and applied in the context of synthetic biology (SB) governance approaches. Based on fundamental questions about the scope, purpose, and responsibilities assigned to public participation activities, the authors conducted an literature review of policy reports and articles on SB governance. Against this basis the authors identify key characteristics of synthetic biology, such as the complex interplay of research, engineering and IT expertise in the field, as well as the challenges these characteristics pose in designing governance frameworks. Drawing on insights from the literature on governance and public participation in political science and public policy, the authors contest calls for "earlier" and "more" participation on the basis that such calls fail to consider the necessary structural adjustments and resources needed for such endeavors.
Download or read book Synthetic Biology and the Question of Public Participation written by Stephanie Siewert and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-03-15 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book considers the relationship between governance and participation, and the ways participation has been understood, framed and applied in the context of synthetic biology (SB) governance approaches. Based on fundamental questions about the scope, purpose, and responsibilities assigned to public participation activities, the authors conducted an literature review of policy reports and articles on SB governance. The authors identify key characteristics of synthetic biology, such as the complex interplay of research, engineering and IT expertise in the field, as well as the challenges these characteristics pose in designing governance frameworks. Drawing on insights from a literature review, the authors contest calls for “earlier” and “more” participation on the basis that such calls fail to consider the necessary structural adjustments and resources needed for such endeavors. The brief addresses ethical questions arising in synthetic biology that could be used for developing frameworks of governance in the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and the consequent innovations in vaccine research.
Download or read book Emerging Policy Issues in Synthetic Biology written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2014-06-04 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines policy issues in synthetic biology including R&D funding, company investment, PPP arrangements and innovative financing, infrastructure requirements, education and training, intellectual property (IP), regulation, and public engagement.
Download or read book Ambivalences of Creating Life written by Kristin Hagen and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-08-27 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Synthetic biology" is the label of a new technoscientific field with many different facets and agendas. One common aim is to "create life", primarily by using engineering principles to design and modify biological systems for human use. In a wider context, the topic has become one of the big cases in the legitimization processes associated with the political agenda to solve global problems with the aid of (bio-)technological innovation. Conceptual-level and meta-level analyses are needed: we should sort out conceptual ambiguities to agree on what we talk about, and we need to spell out agendas to see the disagreements clearly. The book is based on the interdisciplinary summer school "Analyzing the societal dimensions of synthetic biology", which took place in Berlin in September 2014. The contributions address controversial discussions around the philosophical examination, public perception, moral evaluation and governance of synthetic biology.
Download or read book Positioning Synthetic Biology to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2013-08-05 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Synthetic biology-unlike any research discipline that precedes it-has the potential to bypass the less predictable process of evolution to usher in a new and dynamic way of working with living systems. Ultimately, synthetic biologists hope to design and build engineered biological systems with capabilities that do not exist in natural systems-capabilities that may ultimately be used for applications in manufacturing, food production, and global health. Importantly, synthetic biology represents an area of science and engineering that raises technical, ethical, regulatory, security, biosafety, intellectual property, and other issues that will be resolved differently in different parts of the world. As a better understanding of the global synthetic biology landscape could lead to tremendous benefits, six academies-the United Kingdom's Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering, the United States' National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, and the Chinese Academy of Science and Chinese Academy of Engineering-organized a series of international symposia on the scientific, technical, and policy issues associated with synthetic biology. Positioning Synthetic Biology to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century summarizes the symposia proceedings.
Download or read book Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2019-01-05 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific advances over the past several decades have accelerated the ability to engineer existing organisms and to potentially create novel ones not found in nature. Synthetic biology, which collectively refers to concepts, approaches, and tools that enable the modification or creation of biological organisms, is being pursued overwhelmingly for beneficial purposes ranging from reducing the burden of disease to improving agricultural yields to remediating pollution. Although the contributions synthetic biology can make in these and other areas hold great promise, it is also possible to imagine malicious uses that could threaten U.S. citizens and military personnel. Making informed decisions about how to address such concerns requires a realistic assessment of the capabilities that could be misused. Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology explores and envisions potential misuses of synthetic biology. This report develops a framework to guide an assessment of the security concerns related to advances in synthetic biology, assesses the levels of concern warranted for such advances, and identifies options that could help mitigate those concerns.
Download or read book Emerging Policy Issues in Synthetic Biology written by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and published by OCDE. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Synthetic biology is at such an early stage of development that there is no uniform agreement as yet about what it actually is. To some, it represents a natural extension of genetic engineering, and therefore is "business as usual". For others, it is a way to bring mass manufacturing out from the decades of biotechnology research. Currently the discipline is limited by the ability to synthesise DNA cost-effectively but this is a technical barrier that it is anticipated will be overcome. Synthetic biology raises a number of policy issues around R&D funding, company investment, PPP arrangements and innovative financing, infrastructure requirements, education and training, intellectual property (IP), regulation, and public engagement. In preparation for the continuing development and greater use of synthetic biology, some countries have started to prepare synthetic biology technical roadmaps and a global roadmap for the medium term would be an extremely useful policy tool. Technical roadmaps could both identify likely future policy requirements, and be a useful vehicle in public engagement.
Download or read book Symposium on Opportunities and Challenges in the Emerging Field of Synthetic Biology Synthesis Report written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2010-05-11 with total page 51 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The international symposium entitled “Opportunities and Challenges in the Emerging Field of Synthetic Biology” was held in July 2009 in Washington, DC under the auspices of the United States National Academies, the Organisation for Economic ...
Download or read book Trust and Confidence at the Interfaces of the Life Sciences and Society written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2015-09-23 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does the public trust science? Scientists? Scientific organizations? What roles do trust and the lack of trust play in public debates about how science can be used to address such societal concerns as childhood vaccination, cancer screening, and a warming planet? What could happen if social trust in science or scientists faded? These types of questions led the Roundtable on Public Interfaces of the Life Sciences of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a 2-day workshop on May 5-6, 2015 on public trust in science. This report explores empirical evidence on public opinion and attitudes toward life sciences as they relate to societal issues, whether and how contentious debate about select life science topics mediates trust, and the roles that scientists, business, media, community groups, and other stakeholders play in creating and maintaining public confidence in life sciences. Does the Public Trust Science? Trust and Confidence at the Interfaces of the Life Sciences and Society highlights research on the elements of trust and how to build, mend, or maintain trust; and examine best practices in the context of scientist engagement with lay audiences around social issues.
Download or read book Remaking Participation written by Jason Chilvers and published by Routledge is. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The focus of this book is public participation in the governance of science and technology, particularly pertaining to environment and sustainability issues. The past three decades have seen a dramatic rise in diverse forms of participation throughout western democracies, but this book represents the first major attempt to consolidate the research field of critical public engagement studies and practice, working at the interface between science and technology studies (STS), geography, environmental science, and political and democratic theory. Bringing together leading scholars writing on science and society today, the book moves beyond the focus that has dominated the public participation field to date around developing methods and democratic engagement. In doing so, the authors shift the spotlight to participation as an object of study in itself, paying close attention to its social construction, performance, expertise, power and discourse. The book addresses the following key questions: What does 'critical' public engagement mean in terms of research and practice? What is the nature of public participation expertise and how do technologies of participation get produced, mobilised, and with what effects? How is public engagement framed, controlled and governed and how does it construct 'the public', public issues, and visions of democracy? What mediates institutional learning and reflexivity in relation to participation and the public? What are the prospects for building more deliberately reflexive, adaptive and responsible forms of participatory governance of science and technology? In addition to theoretical and conceptual developments, the authors advance empirical understandings relating to these questions through case studies across the domains of emerging technologies (such as nanotechnology and synthetic biology), sustainable energy, and natural hazards. Whilst mapping out critical social science research directions, the book does this in a way that is constructively critical through exploring implications for practices, policies, and institutions of public engagement. Participation, Science and the Environment is essential reading for researchers and students of STS, geography, environmental studies and related disciplines, as well as practitioners faced with the challenges of engaging others in, or gaining access to, contemporary science and innovation processes.
Download or read book Strange Natures written by Kent H. Redford and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking examination of the implications of synthetic biology for biodiversity conservation Nature almost everywhere survives on human terms. The distinction between what is natural and what is human-made, which has informed conservation for centuries, has become blurred. When scientists can reshape genes more or less at will, what does it mean to conserve nature? The tools of synthetic biology are changing the way we answer that question. Gene editing technology is already transforming the agriculture and biotechnology industries. What happens if synthetic biology is also used in conservation to control invasive species, fight wildlife disease, or even bring extinct species back from the dead? Conservation scientist Kent Redford and geographer Bill Adams turn to synthetic biology, ecological restoration, political ecology, and de-extinction studies and propose a thoroughly innovative vision for protecting nature.
Download or read book Regulation of Synthetic Biology written by Alison McLennan and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2018-04-27 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the interplay between regulation and emerging technologies in the context of synthetic biology, a developing field that promises great benefits, and has already yielded fuels and medicines made with designer micro-organisms. For all its promise, however, it also poses various risks. Investigating the distinctiveness of synthetic biology and the regulatory issues that arise, Alison McLennan questions whether synthetic biology can be regulated within existing structures or whether new mechanisms are needed.
Download or read book Gene Drives on the Horizon written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2016-08-28 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research on gene drive systems is rapidly advancing. Many proposed applications of gene drive research aim to solve environmental and public health challenges, including the reduction of poverty and the burden of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and dengue, which disproportionately impact low and middle income countries. However, due to their intrinsic qualities of rapid spread and irreversibility, gene drive systems raise many questions with respect to their safety relative to public and environmental health. Because gene drive systems are designed to alter the environments we share in ways that will be hard to anticipate and impossible to completely roll back, questions about the ethics surrounding use of this research are complex and will require very careful exploration. Gene Drives on the Horizon outlines the state of knowledge relative to the science, ethics, public engagement, and risk assessment as they pertain to research directions of gene drive systems and governance of the research process. This report offers principles for responsible practices of gene drive research and related applications for use by investigators, their institutions, the research funders, and regulators.
Download or read book Synthetic Biology written by Christina Smolke and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2018-02-28 with total page 1600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A review of the interdisciplinary field of synthetic biology, from genome design to spatial engineering. Written by an international panel of experts, Synthetic Biology draws from various areas of research in biology and engineering and explores the current applications to provide an authoritative overview of this burgeoning field. The text reviews the synthesis of DNA and genome engineering and offers a discussion of the parts and devices that control protein expression and activity. The authors include information on the devices that support spatial engineering, RNA switches and explore the early applications of synthetic biology in protein synthesis, generation of pathway libraries, and immunotherapy. Filled with the most recent research, compelling discussions, and unique perspectives, Synthetic Biology offers an important resource for understanding how this new branch of science can improve on applications for industry or biological research.
Download or read book Doing News Framing Analysis written by Paul D'Angelo and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-02-26 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Doing News Framing Analysis provides an interpretive guide to news frames – what they are, how they can be observed in news texts, and how framing effects are uncovered and substantiated in cultural, group, and individual sites. Chapters feature framing analysts reflecting on their own empirical work in research, classroom, and public settings to address specific aspects of framing analysis. Taken together, the collection covers the full range of ways in which framing has been theorized and applied—across topics, sources, mechanisms, and effects. This volume fosters understanding among the scholarly camps of framing scholars, and encourages greater clarity from framing analysts in all aspects of their empirical inquiry. Chapters offer fresh perspectives from which researchers can begin new research programs, puzzle through perplexing problems in a current research program, or expand an existing program. Providing conceptual and methodological guidance, Doing News Framing Analysis will help framing researchers at all levels to better understand news framing and to improve their future news framing research.
Download or read book Industrialization of Biology written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2015-06-29 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The tremendous progress in biology over the last half century - from Watson and Crick's elucidation of the structure of DNA to today's astonishing, rapid progress in the field of synthetic biology - has positioned us for significant innovation in chemical production. New bio-based chemicals, improved public health through improved drugs and diagnostics, and biofuels that reduce our dependency on oil are all results of research and innovation in the biological sciences. In the past decade, we have witnessed major advances made possible by biotechnology in areas such as rapid, low-cost DNA sequencing, metabolic engineering, and high-throughput screening. The manufacturing of chemicals using biological synthesis and engineering could expand even faster. A proactive strategy - implemented through the development of a technical roadmap similar to those that enabled sustained growth in the semiconductor industry and our explorations of space - is needed if we are to realize the widespread benefits of accelerating the industrialization of biology. Industrialization of Biology presents such a roadmap to achieve key technical milestones for chemical manufacturing through biological routes. This report examines the technical, economic, and societal factors that limit the adoption of bioprocessing in the chemical industry today and which, if surmounted, would markedly accelerate the advanced manufacturing of chemicals via industrial biotechnology. Working at the interface of synthetic chemistry, metabolic engineering, molecular biology, and synthetic biology, Industrialization of Biology identifies key technical goals for next-generation chemical manufacturing, then identifies the gaps in knowledge, tools, techniques, and systems required to meet those goals, and targets and timelines for achieving them. This report also considers the skills necessary to accomplish the roadmap goals, and what training opportunities are required to produce the cadre of skilled scientists and engineers needed.
Download or read book BioBuilder written by Natalie Kuldell PhD. and published by "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". This book was released on 2015-06-22 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today’s synthetic biologists are in the early stages of engineering living cells to help treat diseases, sense toxic compounds in the environment, and produce valuable drugs. With this manual, you can be part of it. Based on the BioBuilder curriculum, this valuable book provides open-access, modular, hands-on lessons in synthetic biology for secondary and post-secondary classrooms and laboratories. It also serves as an introduction to the field for science and engineering enthusiasts. Developed at MIT in collaboration with award-winning high school teachers, BioBuilder teaches the foundational ideas of the emerging synthetic biology field, as well as key aspects of biological engineering that researchers are exploring in labs throughout the world. These lessons will empower teachers and students to explore and be part of solving persistent real-world challenges. Learn the fundamentals of biodesign and DNA engineering Explore important ethical issues raised by examples of synthetic biology Investigate the BioBuilder labs that probe the design-build-test cycle Test synthetic living systems designed and built by engineers Measure several variants of an enzyme-generating genetic circuit Model "bacterial photography" that changes a strain’s light sensitivity Build living systems to produce purple or green pigment Optimize baker’s yeast to produce ?-carotene
