Synthetic Biology and Personalized Medicine

Jain, K.K.

Sequencing of tumors provides considerable data on mutations and structural variations, which can be used to predict individual tumor progression and response to treatment. However, prediction of the functional consequences of these mutations, e.g. phenotypes of cancer, is limited. Information about the genetic makeup of cancer cells has been combined with functional genomics approaches for identification of novel targets, and exploration of rewiring of cellular pathways [23] . This is a key step toward personalized cancer diagnostics and therapy. Applications of interactive gene networks include synthetic biology-based approach for future gene therapy, as well as the utilization of synthetic gene circuits as blueprints for the design of stimuli-responsive biohybrid materials. The recent progress in synthetic biology, including the rewiring of biosensing devices with the body's endogenous network as well as novel therapeutic approaches originating from interdisciplinary work, generates numerous opportunities for future biomedical applications [24] .