June 22, 2006
MIT Scientists Ask Biologists to Imitate Engineers
In 2003, (Professor Drew) Endy and others set up the Standard Registry of Biological Parts. The idea was to get biologists to write interoperable plug-ins in DNA code. These plug-ins are described in an online database and stored in a freezer at MIT.
All researchers have to do is follow a set of assembly rules when designing their genetic gizmos...But few biologists are putting their inventions into the registry.
Most scientists have an "unengineering" mind-set, according to Tom Knight, a senior scientist at MIT who designed computer systems before turning to the intersection of computation and biology.
Scientists embrace complexity, he said, while engineers shun it; part of the engineering mind-set is a willingness to follow standards.
...Endy has hit on a new solution, The Office of Biological Dis-Enchantment... Instead of asking biologists to design genetic gizmos to spec and contribute them to a registry, he said he wants to collect descriptions of failed experiments, put them in a database and mine for fundamental sources of error.
Whether it can really bridge the gap between biologists and engineers remains to be seen.
story | ExtremeNano
[illus. google: dna patents/ not above link]
~This article doesn't mention any economic reasons that might prevent biologists from being more like engineers. I'm not at all sure that patent laws are to blame but "scientists embrace complexity, while engineers shun it" sounds lame. Here's a link to an NSF table showing the number of human dna sequence patents by country from 1980-1999.
Posted by Stubbornson at June 22, 2006 11:25 AM