Leading Korean and U.S. scholars in synthetic biology gathered in Incheon to identify the key tasks that will shape the next 10 years. Lee Sang-yeop, a distinguished professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and vice chair of the presidential National Bio Committee, and James Collins, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), agreed that "the next step in synthetic biology is to strengthen the ethical safety net and create innovation by combining it with vast AI and data."
At the joint academic conference of the Korean Society for Biotechnology and Bioengineering and the Asian Federation of Biotechnology held in Incheon on the 25th, Lee Sang-yeop introduced Collins as "the founder of synthetic biology." Synthetic biology is a research field that designs and reconstructs the genes of living organisms to give them new functions or make them produce useful substances.
Lee said, "The era of synthetic biology opened with a paper Collins published in Nature in 2000," recalling, "There had been attempts to engineer living organisms before then, but that research was a true turning point."
The two said that ethical mechanisms and social consensus are crucial for synthetic biology to continue advancing. Collins said, "When recombinant DNA (which alters genes) emerged in the 1970s, there was discussion about ethics, and the principles from that time still hold today." He said, "Every technology has both light and dark sides," adding, "Especially now, AI and engineering are combining to open possibilities on a new level, so monitoring suited to today's technological environment is needed."
Lee Sang-yeop cited as an example a technology that designs bacteriophages—the viruses that infect bacteria—to kill superbugs resistant to antibiotics. He said, "It greatly helps treat patients, but if abused, it would also be possible to design viruses lethal to humans," adding, "We need to strengthen international DNA information screening and researcher ethics education institutionally."
The international scientific community is putting in place safety devices that detect and block dangerous gene sequences or share suspected research cases. Lee said, "Like a fight between a chicken and an egg, there is no perfect shield, but sustained efforts to improve are important."
On the next 10 years of synthetic biology, both scholars pointed to "AI and data" as the key keywords. Collins said, "It is difficult to engineer living organisms because there are too many unknown variables, but as more experimental data accumulates and it meshes with smarter AI models, innovation will occur," adding, "Synthetic biology will face a major inflection point both as a tool for scientific research and in terms of technological commercialization."
Lee Sang-yeop likewise said, "Metabolic engineering, which artificially manipulates cellular metabolic processes, is evolving into 'systems metabolic engineering' that integrates systems biology and synthetic biology, AI, and accelerated evolution technologies," adding, "The speed and accuracy of finding and designing targets are qualitatively different from the past, and will continue to be."
The two did not forget to offer advice on fostering the next generation of scholars. Collins said, "Korea's synthetic biology is developing very powerfully on the back of an outstanding pool of young talent." However, he said, "Education and research must be supported with a long-term perspective, without being swayed by election cycles," adding, "In particular, a national strategy to build massive data sets can innovate synthetic biology."
Lee Sang-yeop said, "We need a social atmosphere and fair treatment that allow good talent to freely choose the science they want to pursue," adding, "When scientists are respected and steady national investment in research and support for education continue, Korea's synthetic biology ecosystem will be able to take another leap forward."