Who are the pioneers of synthetic biology, and what contribution did they make?

Pioneers

Contributions

George McDonald Church

1. • Developed Polonator G.007, which made DNA sequencing about one hundred times less expensive than it had been.
2. • He is using CRISPR, to alter 62 pig genes at a time, which might allow their organs to be transplanted into people without being rejected.
3. • Contributed to the Human Genome Project.
4. • In 2005, he launched the Personal Genome Project.

Jay Keasling

1. • Keasling led a UC Berkeley research team in the development of engineered yeast microbes to synthetically produce artemisinin, a powerful anti-malarial drug.
2. • Working in producing biofuels using synthetic biology.

Drew Endy

1. • He co-founded the BioBricks Foundation - free-to-use standards and technology that enable the engineering of biology.
2. • He co-organized the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM.org) competition
3. • His Stanford research team develops genetically encoded computers and redesigns genomes.
4. • Drew helped launch the undergraduate majors in bioengineering at both MIT and Stanford

Tom Knight

1. • He developed standards for engineering biological systems, such as the Biobrick standard
2. • He co-founded Gingko Bioworks, which design custom organisms for customers.

J Craig Venter

1. • His scientific teams were the first to read the entire genome (genetic code) of a free-living organism and played a major role in building the first complete map of the human genome.
2. • His team created the world’s first synthetic species of bacteria after they constructed an entirely new DNA molecule in the laboratory.
3. • Founder of the J. Craig Venter Research Institute (JCVI) and Celere Corporation.