European governance challenges in bio-engineering : making perfect life : bio-engineering (in) the 21st century : final report

In the STOA project Making Perfect Life four fields were studied of 21st century bio-engineering: engineering of living artefacts, engineering of the body, engineering of the brain, and engineering of intelligent artefacts. This report describes the main results of the project. It shows how developments in the four fields of bio-engineering are shaped by two megatrends: "biology becoming technology" and "technology becoming biology". These developments result in a broadening of the bio-engineering debate in our society. The report addresses the long term views that are inspiring this debate and discusses a multitude of ethical, legal and social issues that arise from bio-engineering developments in the fields described. Against this background four specific developments are studied in more detail: the rise of human genome sequencing, the market introduction of neurodevices, the capturing by information technology of the psychological and physiological states of users, and the pursuit of standardisation in synthetic biology. These developments are taken in this report as a starting point for an analysis of some of the main European governance challenges in 21st century bio-engineering

European governance challenges in bio-engineering : making perfect life : bio-engineering (in) the 21st century : final report

In the STOA project Making Perfect Life four fields were studied of 21st century bio-engineering: engineering of living artefacts, engineering of the body, engineering of the brain, and engineering of intelligent artefacts. This report describes the main results of the project. It shows how developments in the four fields of bio-engineering are shaped by two megatrends: "biology becoming technology" and "technology becoming biology". These developments result in a broadening of the bio-engineering debate in our society. The report addresses the long term views that are inspiring this debate and discusses a multitude of ethical, legal and social issues that arise from bio-engineering developments in the fields described. Against this background four specific developments are studied in more detail: the rise of human genome sequencing, the market introduction of neurodevices, the capturing by information technology of the psychological and physiological states of users, and the pursuit of standardisation in synthetic biology. These developments are taken in this report as a starting point for an analysis of some of the main European governance challenges in 21st century bio-engineering

Accomplishing sequencing the human genome

Modern biotechnology has been transformed from a largely academic pursuit to a multi billion-dollar commercial bio-industry that is seen as one of the foundations of the knowledge economy. The sequencing of the human genome is seen as one of the great achievements of contemporary science. Though narratives of the sequencing of the human genome concentrate on the leading figures, the Human Genome Project was the achievement of big science. Big science represents the transformation of scientific work from a craft-based adhocracy into a form of work conducted within bureaucratic organisations that employ huge teams of scientists and technicians with a proliferation of specialised roles. This 'industrialisation' of science led many to describe the Human Genome Project as involving 'production line' efforts, 'sequencing mills' and an 'Industrial Revolution' for biology. This thesis investigates the experience of work at the Institute, a large-scale sequencing centre. Entering the 'hidden abode' of production, the study examines the sequence of the human genome as an achievement of labour, rather than the product of 'great men'. Interviews were conducted with a range of people across the 'sequencing chain of production'. The study finds that work at the Institute was quite unlike the dehumanising, alienating work that might be expected as a result of the 'industrialisation' of science. Rather, the work of sequencing genomes recruited the sentiments of those working at the Institute, producing committed workers. This thesis examines the generation of commitment at the Institute in comparison to 'high road' models of work organisation. Given the central role of the sequence of the human genome in the future of biotechnology as a key sector in the knowledge economy, the Institute is considered with regard to debates around the future of work in technologically advanced economies.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Developing a bioinformatics framework for proteogenomics

In the last 15 years, since the human genome was first sequenced, genome sequencing and annotation have continued to improve. However, genome annotation has not kept up with the accelerating rate of genome sequencing and as a result there is now a large backlog of genomic data waiting to be interpreted both quickly and accurately. Through advances in proteomics a new field has emerged to help improve genome annotation, termed proteogenomics, which uses peptide mass spectrometry data, enabling the discovery of novel protein coding genes, as well as the refinement and validation of known and putative protein-coding genes. The annotation of genomes relies heavily on ab initio gene prediction programs and/or mapping of a range of RNA transcripts. Although this method provides insights into the gene content of genomes it is unable to distinguish protein-coding genes from putative non-coding RNA genes. This problem is further confounded by the fact that only 5% of the public protein sequence repository at UniProt/SwissProt has been curated and derived from actual protein evidence. This thesis contends that it is critically important to incorporate proteomics data into genome annotation pipelines to provide experimental protein-coding evidence. Although there have been major improvements in proteogenomics over the last decade there are still numerous challenges to overcome. These key challenges include the loss of sensitivity when using inflated search spaces of putative sequences, how best to interpret novel identifications and how best to control for false discoveries. This thesis addresses the existing gap between the use of genomic and proteomic sources for accurate genome annotation by applying a proteogenomics approach with a customised methodology. This new approach was applied within four case studies: a prokaryote bacterium; a monocotyledonous wheat plant; a dicotyledonous grape plant; and human. The key contributions of this thesis are: a new methodology for proteogenomics analysis; 145 suggested gene refinements in Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens (nitrogen-fixing bacteria); 55 new gene predictions (57 protein isoforms) in Vitis vinifera (grape); 49 new gene predictions (52 protein isoforms) in Homo sapiens (human); and 67 new gene predictions (70 protein isoforms) in Triticum aestivum (bread wheat). Lastly, a number of possible improvements for the studies conducted in this thesis and proteogenomics as a whole have been identified and discussed

Accomplishing sequencing the human genome

Modern biotechnology has been transformed from a largely academic pursuit to a multi billion-dollar commercial bio-industry that is seen as one of the foundations of the knowledge economy. The sequencing of the human genome is seen as one of the great achievements of contemporary science. Though narratives of the sequencing of the human genome concentrate on the leading figures, the Human Genome Project was the achievement of big science. Big science represents the transformation of scientific work from a craft-based adhocracy into a form of work conducted within bureaucratic organisations that employ huge teams of scientists and technicians with a proliferation of specialised roles. This 'industrialisation' of science led many to describe the Human Genome Project as involving 'production line' efforts, 'sequencing mills' and an 'Industrial Revolution' for biology. This thesis investigates the experience of work at the Institute, a large-scale sequencing centre. Entering the 'hidden abode' of production, the study examines the sequence of the human genome as an achievement of labour, rather than the product of 'great men'. Interviews were conducted with a range of people across the 'sequencing chain of production'. The study finds that work at the Institute was quite unlike the dehumanising, alienating work that might be expected as a result of the 'industrialisation' of science. Rather, the work of sequencing genomes recruited the sentiments of those working at the Institute, producing committed workers. This thesis examines the generation of commitment at the Institute in comparison to 'high road' models of work organisation. Given the central role of the sequence of the human genome in the future of biotechnology as a key sector in the knowledge economy, the Institute is considered with regard to debates around the future of work in technologically advanced economies

Genome editing in food and feed production – implications for risk assessment. Opinion of the Steering Committee of the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food and Environment

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