Team:Evry/Policy and Practices/Philosophy

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However, in truth it is obviously not so. Everyday during our iGEM experience, we discovered how unpredictable living systems can be - and even though we sometimes managed to have the result we expected, the protocols to achieve such a result were hardly as rational as engineers protocols. In biology, we never fully understand the living systems we are working on, and as a consequence, the design process of our genetically engineered machine is more often a trial-and-error process than a fail-proof one.
However, in truth it is obviously not so. Everyday during our iGEM experience, we discovered how unpredictable living systems can be - and even though we sometimes managed to have the result we expected, the protocols to achieve such a result were hardly as rational as engineers protocols. In biology, we never fully understand the living systems we are working on, and as a consequence, the design process of our genetically engineered machine is more often a trial-and-error process than a fail-proof one.
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This observation has led us to wonder about the importance of kludging and tinkering in synthetic biology. The word "kludge" stands for "klumsy, lame, ugly, dumb but good enough", and seems to describe quite accurately what we are actually doing in synthetic biology, when we use inelegant but successful solutions to solve a problem when the rational design doesn't bear the expected results. In fact, we were led to notice that this not-alway rational, but very efficient way of doing research is common in many scientific fields; but we thought that it was even more significant in synthetic biology, because the researchers of this field are precisely claiming that their design is rational and systematic. The contrast between what synthetic biology want to do and what they are actually doing is, as a result, even more apparent.
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This observation has led us to wonder about the importance of kludging and tinkering in synthetic biology. The word "kludge" stands for "klumsy, lame, ugly, dumb but good enough", and seems to describe quite accurately what we are actually doing in synthetic biology, when we use inelegant but successful solutions to solve a problem when the rational design doesn't bear the expected results. In fact, we were led to notice that this not-always rational, but very efficient way of doing research is common in many scientific fields; but we thought that it was even more significant in synthetic biology, because the researchers of this field are precisely claiming that their design is rational and systematic. The contrast between what synthetic biology want to do and what they are actually doing is, as a result, even more apparent.
<blockquote><div align="center"><i><b>Kludge :</b> "<b>k</b>lumsy, <b>l</b>ame, <b>u</b>gly, <b>d</b>umb, but <b>g</b>ood <b>e</b>nough"
<blockquote><div align="center"><i><b>Kludge :</b> "<b>k</b>lumsy, <b>l</b>ame, <b>u</b>gly, <b>d</b>umb, but <b>g</b>ood <b>e</b>nough"

Revision as of 09:52, 11 October 2014

IGEM Evry 2014

Policy and Practices - Philosophy


Design in Synthetic Biology: rationality versus kludge



Though scientists have many different definition for what is synthetic biology, a recurrent element of these definitions is the analogy with engineering. This comparison is supported by the idea that synthetic biology allows to build standardized parts of living systems, whose functions and properties are know ; and that those parts can be assembled together in any system thanks to a rational and transposable protocol. Synthetic biologists should also be able to make a model of the constructed organism and to predict its behavior. Eventually, building new living systems should become as easy for synthetic biologists as assembling non-biological parts in a machine is easy to engineers.


“Synthetic biology is the engineering of biology”
High-level Expert Group European Commission

However, living organisms are exceedingly complex, and at first sight it looks impossible to fully understand them ; and if we don't, how could we possibly have enough control over them to force them to behave like mechanical, predictable machines? This question is important, because it is precisely what we are trying to do in iGEM: to design and build a "Genetically Engineered Machine". We are, like most synthetic biologists, assuming (or at least hoping) that living systems can be designed to act in a calculated and useful way, like the machines of engineers do. However, in truth it is obviously not so. Everyday during our iGEM experience, we discovered how unpredictable living systems can be - and even though we sometimes managed to have the result we expected, the protocols to achieve such a result were hardly as rational as engineers protocols. In biology, we never fully understand the living systems we are working on, and as a consequence, the design process of our genetically engineered machine is more often a trial-and-error process than a fail-proof one.

This observation has led us to wonder about the importance of kludging and tinkering in synthetic biology. The word "kludge" stands for "klumsy, lame, ugly, dumb but good enough", and seems to describe quite accurately what we are actually doing in synthetic biology, when we use inelegant but successful solutions to solve a problem when the rational design doesn't bear the expected results. In fact, we were led to notice that this not-always rational, but very efficient way of doing research is common in many scientific fields; but we thought that it was even more significant in synthetic biology, because the researchers of this field are precisely claiming that their design is rational and systematic. The contrast between what synthetic biology want to do and what they are actually doing is, as a result, even more apparent.

Kludge : "klumsy, lame, ugly, dumb, but good enough"
Inelegant but successful solution to a problem.

Thus, as we are synthetic biologists ourselves and are confronted everyday to the actual practice of the field in the lab, we thought that it was very important to take a step back and have an objective and reflexive look at design in synthetic biology. The questions we want to address in the following reflexion are the following:

  • How can synthetic biology pretend to achieve rational and predictable design of living systems?
  • Is design in synthetic biology rational, of is it the result of kludging?
  • Is one way better than the other?