Human

Practice

Tianjin IGEM team had a meeting about the social implications of synthetic biology with Dr. Yueyue Zhang on July 28th, 2010. Dr. Yueyue Zhang is a research officer of the synthetic biology resesrch project, CSynBI, led by Professor Kitney from Imperial College and Professor Nikolas Rose from the London School of Economics.

We mainly focused on safety, ethics and ownership of synthetic biology.
Questions:
1. Should we stop doing research on synthetic biology simply because its "possible insecurity"?
Every new discovery has its unsafe factor. We are supposed to make the most of synthetic biology and avoid the negative consequences. Never stop exploring the world.

2. Should the government control the research on synthetic biology as it involves ethics?
The development of society needs a balance between ethics and science. The government has to play a role in it. Never let science go without restrictions.

3. Should the patents of synthetic biology be owned by scientists or society?

The basic purpose of science is to serve creatures in the world. The knowledge and skills of synthetic biology can be used to treat diseases so that the ownership of them should be the society. The spirit of science never goes out of style.