Synthetic biology: From the first synthetic cell to see its current situation and future development

Zhang, LiuYan; Chang, SuHua; Wang, Jing

In year 2000, the successful synthesis of genetic toggle switch [11] and genetic repressilator [12] represent the beginning of synthetic biology [13] . In 2003, the Synthetic Biology Community and the Registry of Standard Biological Parts were founded in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2004, the first International Genetically Figure 3 From electronic systems to engineered synthetic biology systems. Switches and oscillators that occur in electronic systems are also seen in biology and have been engineered into synthetic biological systems [7] . Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM) was held in MIT. The BioBricks Foundation (BBF) was established and the first International Meeting on Synthetic Biology was held in the same year. iGEM is a worldwide Synthetic Biology competition aimed at undergraduate students. Till 2010, there have been more than 120 teams from different countries participating it including about 2000 participants. Universities from China have participated this competition since 2007 and have made outstanding achievements. Major events [14] on bio-parts standardization and genetic circuit design are listed in Table 1 .