type of computer—from biologically
engineered components. Sauro points
out that all biological systems have reactants bouncing around and colliding with one another, all of which produces “noise.” Evolution exploits this
noise, but it is also possible it could be
used to compute information. “It’s an
open issue about whether there is any
advantage to building a computer from
biological systems,” Sauro points out.
For now, synthetic biology is
marching forward. Over the next couple of decades, Gibson says the technology will usher in huge changes in
medicine, biofuel, nutrition, agriculture, and more. “We are taking 4 billion years of evolution and decoding
how the biological processes work on
a genome. … Right now, we have only
a small section of the overall code. In
the computing world, we would not
have enough to boot up the computer.
But in the biological world, we have
now built pieces of DNA large enough
that we can produce self-replicating
cells. This gives us the opportunity
to bang on the problem and find tailored applications.”
Further Reading
Vora, S., Tuttle, M., Cheng, J., and Church, G.
Next Stop for the CRISPR Revolution:
RNA Guided Epigenetic Regulators,
The FEBS Journal, 10.1111/febs.13768.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/
febs.13768/epdf
Chavez, A., Pruitt, B. W., Tuttle, M., Shapiro, R.S.,
Cecchi, R.J., Winston, J., Turczyk, B.M., Tung, M.,
Collins, J.J., and Church, G.M.
Precise Cas9 Targeting Enables
Genomic Mutation Prevention.
http://biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/
early/2016/06/14/058974.full.pdf
Pires, D.P. Cleto, S., Sillankorva, S.,
Azeredo, J., and Lu, T.K.
Genetically Engineered Phages: A Review
of Advances over the Last Decade,
Microbiology and Molecular Biology Review,
80:523–543. June 1, 2016. http://mmbr.
asm.org/content/80/3/523.short?rss=1
Jusiak, B., Cleto, S., Perez- Piñera, P., and Lu, T. K.
Engineering Synthetic Gene Circuits in
Living Cells with CRISPR Technology,
Trends in Biotechnology, Volume 34, Issue
7, July 2016, Pages 535–547. http://www.
sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/
S0167779915002747
Samuel Greengard is an author and journalist based in
West Linn, OR.
© 2016 ACM 0001-0782/16/12 $15.00
DNA by Design
Synthetic biology and genetic re-engineering also introduce ethical and
moral questions. Designer dogs many
elicit concern, but designer humans
fall into an entirely different category.
Should parents be allowed to choose
characteristics they desire for children—say, blue eyes, or a more muscular physique? Should some parents (
essentially those who are more affluent)
have access to a technology that allows
them to produce babies that are more
likely to live longer? What if someone decides to weaponize or sabotage
genes in order to introduce disease or
cause other problems?
“We should not be dismissive of
the potential consequences, includ-
ing ecological fallout, of the technol-
ogy,” Church says. “Oftentimes, we
think we understand a system and
later discover that we really don’t un-
derstand it.” Nevertheless, he is opti-
mistic about synthetic biology and its
potential impact on the planet. “We
slog along and often find we are bet-
ter off with the technology than with-
out it. With programmable biology,
there are opportunities to make life
and the world better.”
Adds Lu: “Those who work in the
field understand the need to monitor
and surveil the technology so that it
is not used in nefarious ways. There
is now a huge emphasis on ethics
and safety.”
One of the biggest questions is how
genetic modifications will play out over
time in the real world. Although it is
theoretically possible for a gene to mu-
tate in an unintended way and intro-
duce dangers and risks, it is far more
likely that, as genetically designed
genes become part of the natural en-
vironment and succumb to evolution,
they will eventually fizzle out and lose
their characteristics. “These organ-
isms are usually just a little bit ‘sick’
because we are taking up resources
that should be used for growth,” Lu ex-
plains. “If they can shake off the engi-
neered piece, they’re happier. So, over
multiple generations, the beautiful,
engineered component may go away;
the organism jettisons the engineered
parts in order to grow faster.”
Another question is whether scien-
tists can construct more elaborate sys-
tems—basically, a new and different
ACM
Member
News
SCHRÖDER LEAVES
MASSAGE FOR
COMPUTER GRAPHICS
Peter Schröder,
professor of
computer
science and
applied and
computational
mathematics at
the California Institute of
Technology (Cal Tech), grew up
in Germany. There, he worked as
a massage therapist, until a
transformative experience
altered his path.
“In 1984, a friend turned me
on to Tron, the science fiction
movie, if you’re old enough to
remember it,” says Schröder.
“I had to find out how they did
that; I had to just know.”
Shortly after seeing the
movie, Schröder learned of
ACM SIGGRAPH. He signed up
for the SIGGRAPH conference,
and took a mathematics and
computer graphics course there
that changed the trajectory of
his career.
Schröder resumed his
education, first at the State
University of New York at
Stony Brook, then returning
to Germany to earn his
undergraduate degree in
computer science and pure
mathematics from the
Technical University of Berlin.
In 1990, he earned a master’s
degree from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, and
then a Ph. D. in computer
science from Princeton
University in 1994. After a year
of post-doctoral research at the
University of South Carolina, he
joined Caltech in 1995, and has
been there ever since.
Schröder, a pioneer
in geometry processing,
in 2003 received the ACM
SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics
Achievement Award in
recognition of his work in the
use of hierarchical methods in
geometry processing.
“The big theme of my
work right now is discreet
differential geometry. I focus
on the underlying machinery
and computer graphics, which
is great for students,” explains
Schröder. “They get more
motivated when they see fun
pictures coming out of it.”
—John Delaney