The biocoding revolution

The potential for synthetic biology and biotechnology is vast; we all have an opportunity to create the future together.

What is biocoding? For those of you who have been following the biotechnology industry, you’ll have heard of the rapid advances in genome sequencing. Our ability to read the language of life has advanced dramatically, but only recently have we been able to start writing the language of life at scale.

The first large-scale biocoding success was in 2010, when Craig Venter (one of my scientific heroes) wrote up the genome of an entirely synthetic organism, booted it up and created de novo life. Venter’s new book, Life at the Speed of Light, discusses the creation of the first synthetic life form. In his book and in video interviews, Venter talks about the importance of ensuring the accuracy of the DNA code they designed. One small deletion of a base (one of the four letters that make up the biological equivalent of 1s and 0s) resulted in a reading frame shift that left them with gibberish genomes, a mistake they were able to find and correct. One of the most amusing parts of Venter’s work was that they were able to encode sequences in the DNA to represent each letter of the English alphabet. Their watermark included the names of their collaborators, famous quotes, an explanation of the coding system used, and a URL for those who crack the code written in the DNA. Welcome to the future — and let me know if you crack the code!

Biocoding is just the beginning of the rise of the true biohackers. This is a community of several thousand people, with skill sets ranging from self-taught software hackers to biology postdocs who are impatient with the structure of traditional lab work. Biohackers want to tinker; do fun science; and, in the process, accelerate the pace of biotech innovation. There are plenty of differences between writing computer code and writing code in the building blocks of life, but the important thing is that it can be done and is being done now by citizen scientists working both from shared biohacker labs (like BiocuriousGenspace, and Counter Culture Labs) and at home (for example, Cathal Garvey, who works out of a spare bedroom in his mother’s home). Drew Endy’s short video about Engineering Biology gives a great overview of what we can accomplish when we start programming the genetic code. One of his projects is genetically encoded data storage — but it’s not just about replacing dry silicon with wet carbon; it’s about what can happen when you can do computing in an environment where you couldn’t possibly place silicon: inside a living cell.

Biotech is the wet nanotech we’ve been waiting for. It’s a little less logical and a lot buggier than we’d like, but we now have the tools to write DNA, insert this code into a cell, reboot the cell and make those cells produce custom-designed proteins and substances, and engineer biology. The potential for synthetic biology and biotechnology is vast. The biocoding era will be as transformative as the computer era, and we all have an opportunity to create the future together.

Biocoder is a new O’Reilly quarterly newsletter chronicling the rise of DIY bio, synthetic bio, biohackers, Grinders, and the new innovations being developed at the edges of the biotech industry. Check out Biocoder and download it for free.

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