Visitors experience frontier science at latest Fringe event

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A lesson in synthetic biology

Pedigree tomatoes, brewing yeast and waste-digesting bacteria were on the bill for a public event at Imperial College London last night.

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How synthetic biology can be used to improve our everyday lives was the theme of the fifth in the series of free Fringe events at the College.

Synthetic biology is the manufacture of biological materials, such as chemicals or enzymes, through engineering processes. It is predicted that by 2016 the world market for synthetic biology products, will be £16 billion and could have the potential to aid the growth of the UK’s economy.

“Life as we know it” was a public evening drop-in event that took place at Imperial’s Main Entrance on Exhibition Road.

Fringe-goers had the opportunity to participate in a range of interactive demonstrations at the festival including a presentation about the difference between modified and natural tomatoes.  Dr Stuart John Dunbar, from the Syngenta University Innovation Centre at Imperial, gave visitors the chance to taste three different varieties of tomatoes with varying sweetness and asked them to rank the tomatoes in order of their preference to explain the varying tastes of shoppers. The sweeter tomatoes proved the most popular with visitors.  The Centre is looking to replicate the genes in the sweeter tomatoes and implant them in conventional tomatoes for a better flavour.  Dr Dunbar also treated visitors to some of his tomato trivia, including the fact that tomatoes lose 50 per cent of their flavour within 15 minutes of being placed in the fridge.

In another display, students from the Department of Life Sciences created a mock fridge to show how synthetic biology can be used to conserve food in the fridge. They discussed how microscopic biological sensors could be stuck onto food packaging like plasters to detect when food is spoiling to safeguard food quality and minimise waste.

Students Nicholas Kral and James Field from the Departments of Life Sciences and Bioengineering also discussed how synthetic biology could be used to prevent soil erosion. They talked about how harmless bacteria could be re-engineered to produce a plant hormone that would promote root growth to protect plants from being upturned and washed away in flash floods.

Other demonstrations included synthetic biologist Dr Tom Ellis, from the Department of Bioengineering  looking at changing the texture and taste of beer by engineering yeast, so that it is easy to extract in order to make beer crisper and clearer.  This new process could potentially save breweries money.

Sam Wong interviewed Dr Ellis about beer and synthetic biology.

Bioengineer Benjamin Reeve, from the Department of Bioengineering, also demonstrated ways of turning compost into biofuels, which is important for improving their sustainability and cost effectiveness.

Professor Richard Kitney and Professor Paul Freemont, co-directors of the Centre for Synthetic Biology and Innovation at Imperial, talked about what synthetic biology is, how it is done and the importance of innovations in this field for future generations.

Professor Richard Kitney, said: “This is such a new field of science and we want the public to get a basic understating of what synthetic biology is and how it can be applied to their everyday lives. From developing new types of therapies for patients to manufacturing more sustainable tyres for cars, the use of synthetic biology is wide-ranging.”

Professor Paul Freemont added: “We want to share with the community just how amazing synthetic biology is and show them how this field of science has the potential to impact on all our lives in a positive way.  Synthetic biology has a transformative potential and here at the Centre we are working with a range of companies to develop the technology and turn our vision into a reality.”

 

Reporter

Maxine Myers

Maxine Myers
Communications Division

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Contact details

Tel: +44 (0)7561 451 724
Email: maxine.myers@imperial.ac.uk

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