Jesse and Priscilla talk with Andrew Hessel, author of the book “The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology.”

Andrew explains how digitizing biology through synthetic biology can help standardize the field, identify bad actors and designs, enable regulators to monitor developments and provide greater transparency for investors.

What is “Digitizing biology”?

• Digitizing biology through synthetic biology can help establish standards in the field.
• Digitization can also help identify bad actors, designs, and programs.
• Regulators can better monitor developments in synthetic biology through digitization.
• Greater transparency in the field can aid investors in identifying promising projects.
• However, accidents and mistakes may still occur, and we must not be naive about the risks associated with synthetic biology.
• Dynamics from the internet may carry over into synthetic biology as the field becomes more digitized.
• The potential of synthetic biology is vast, but we must remain vigilant and responsible in our development and use of it.

0:00 – Intro

1:20 – What is Synthetic Biology

2:19 – Where is Synthetic Biology Taking Us

3:19 – Is this the next precision medicine

5:15 – What can it do for us today

6:47- Digital me

8:37 – Cancer immunotherapy

10:47 – Digitalization and automation

13:27 – Early days of synthetic biology

16:32 – Closing the loop with automation

18:23 – Materials

23:30 – Mark Kelly

29:55 – Open Source