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iScience

iScience

Volume 24, Issue 5, 21 May 2021, 102505
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Perspective
Synthetic living machines: A new window on life

Author links open overlay panelMo R.Ebrahimkhani^1^2^3^4MichaelLevin^
5^6
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102505Get rights and content
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Summary

Increased control of biological growth and form is an essential
gateway to transformative medical advances. Repairing of birth
defects, restoring lost or damaged organs, normalizing tumors, all
depend on understanding how cells cooperate to make specific,
functional large-scale structures. Despite advances in molecular
genetics, significant gaps remain in our understanding of the
meso-scale rules of morphogenesis. An engineering approach to this
problem is the creation of novel synthetic living forms, greatly
extending available model systems beyond evolved plant and animal
lineages. Here, we review recent advances in the emerging field of
synthetic morphogenesis, the bioengineering of novel multicellular
living bodies. Emphasizing emergent self-organization, tissue-level
guided self-assembly, and active functionality, this work is the
essential next generation of synthetic biology. Aside from useful
living machines for specific functions, the rational design and
analysis of new, coherent anatomies will greatly increase our
understanding of foundational questions in evolutionary developmental
and cell biology.

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Subject areas

developmental biology
bioengineering
synthetic biology
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