Synthetic Biology
I have been interested in synthetic biology for the pat one year now. I was introduced to the field by my mentor Dr. Beena Pillai and with the understanding developed in transcriptional biology over the course of my graduate course I have come to embrace the field of synthetic biology esp. synthetic transcriptional biology. I have also had the fortunate opportunity to listen to and interact with Dr. Christina Smolke (located at Caltech) a couple of times. I have also been an active participant in some of the synthetic biology communities over Facebook and would be a part of the ever increasing network of synthetic biologists. What fascinates me the most regarding the field is the ability to alter the existing biological circuits to make them further optimized or make the organism capable of performing a novel task which it would not been capable of at the first instance. The field has grown to the extent that several researchers across many institutes (including the J. Craig Venter Institute in the lead) have even made an attempt to make the first living synthetic microorganisms.
Synthetic biology not only encompasses the developing of novel functions in simple organisms but is growing at an ever increasing pace to provide the community with highly efficient tools that could make living better. These include synthetic products for the pharm industry including conditionally active drugs capable of targeting specific molecules inside the body to cosmetic products. Several labs are also focusing on the development of biofuels to counter the increase in consumption of renewable sources of energy.
All in all I would be really interested in developing a career in the field of synthetic biology. Of my specific interest is the applied work in the field where synthetic biological parts/devices are introduced into human cells that could lead to medical benefits by silencing or activating certain genes that would be relevant to a certain disease condition.