Digital Biology: The New Technological Frontier

Use cases for digital biology

Digital biology is helping researchers gain insight into some of the key medicinal and environmental problems that have evaded science for centuries. Applications of digital biology include:

• rapid discovery and isolation of single cells for research and analysis - i.e. studying pharmaceutical interactions at a molecular level.
• resolving the issue of antibiotic resistance - earlier this year a machine-learning algorithm at MIT identified a new drug which was able to kill a previously drug-resistant strain of bacteria.
• creating super-efficient lab environments - tens of millions of dollars are being invested in the virtualisation of biology labs, which are designed to be far superior to existing wet labs. Nature explains how digital labs make it “easier for biologists to perform experiments in which many variables are modified simultaneously, by freeing them from the proliferation of procedures and handling steps that such experiments usually require”.
• harnessing the planet’s energy more cleanly and efficiently - in recent years, scientists discovered a strain of bacteria which could convert plant matter into biofuel for cars. Researchers are now engineering this bacteria for more efficient energy conversion.

What is synthetic biology?

Where digital biology is about discovering how living things work at a cell molecular level, synthetic biology centres on biological redesign – i.e. enhancing an organism by altering its DNA make-up. Synthetic biologists sew together long strands of DNA, which could come from different sources or be entirely novel, then insert them into an organism’s gene sequence to change its characteristics.

Gene editing falls under the umbrella of synthetic biology, but there’s a subtle difference in that, here, genetic scientists use tools to make very small changes to an organism’s existing DNA. A well-known example of this approach is CRISPR, which uses gene-editing technology to make precision changes to tiny components of DNA. A key goal of this pioneering bioscience is to eradicate genetic malfunctions which can lead to diseases including cancer, blood disorders and muscular dystrophy, etc.

But it’s not just the human condition that scientists are targeting through synthetic biology. The National Human Genome Research Institute (NIH) is also focusing its research and development efforts on areas such as crop production, to enhance yields and nutrients in the battle to feed the growing population. They are also looking at how to re-engineer organisms to help tackle the climate crisis.