Bryan Wells, NATO’s chief scientist, serious, direct, told La Vanguardia just a few weeks ago: “Synthetic biology is the next great scientific revolution. But with its opportunities come threats, and it could be used against our civil society. We must be alert.”
Today it is added: “There is certainty that China breaks the limits in synthetic biology.” Eduardo Costas, professor of genetics at the Complutense University and scientist with experience in projects for Defense as well as for private companies, tells this newspaper. He explains it like this: “The only person who cloned humans did it there. It is not accidental. Here the repercussion would be enormous. There it is opaque. The problem is how authoritarianisms manage it, ”he continues.
And then, in addition, there is the context: the high tension between the West and Russia over the war in Ukraine; what is already cited as the new cold war between West and East with Beijing as the capital; or that, in Israel, “there is the theory of mutual assured destruction in the case of seeing its existence compromised by its neighbors.”
Does anyone give more?
Many scientists do not hesitate to say that we are close to experiencing a revolution like the Neolithic, when animal domestication allowed humans to grow and multiply. But now it would be at the hands of microorganisms, redesigning, through engineering, biological systems so that they have new functions. “I define it as the manipulation of a genome at the nucleotide level. If you change a single nucleobase, part of a gene, an entire gene or a network of genes, it’s synthetic biology,” explains Kenneth Wickiser, former scientific director at the West Point military academy and recognized as one of the foremost experts, from New York. of the field
And he warns: “Scientists have been doing this since before they knew what genes really were. To do this, they used chemicals or radiation that caused random mutations or selected cells or organisms based on their function or phenotype. What is different today is that we have the complete genetic sequence of many animals, viruses and microbes and that genes, parts of genes or a network of genes can be built using synthesis machines for less than the cost of a sports car”.
“We, for example, have achieved microorganisms capable of enriching uranium,” launches Costas. Wells, for his part, highlights his development to find personalized drugs or biosensors that produce energy. And Colonel Juan Carlos Cabria, head of the department of nuclear, biological and chemical defense systems of the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA) of the Spanish Ministry of Defense, specifies to this newspaper: “The biosensors that monitor units on the ground in real time and administer medicines in certain cases are achievable in the medium term, as is having new ballistic materials that replicate and enhance the properties that are in nature”.
Today what worries the most, however, is its b-side.
And Wickiser tells it bluntly: “The democratization of technology also allows those with nefarious intentions to do their jobs more easily, cheaply and quickly. A bioterrorist is capable of creating existing viruses from scratch. But most likely, because it is easier, he is capable of altering the natural viral sequences to develop new variants with the desired effects, such as transmissibility or lethality. Starting with the available natural material avoids the need to synthesize the rest of the genome, which reduces the technical hurdles of creating a weapon.”
Synthetic biology is useful for “manufacturing chemical substances hitherto impossible to synthesize that can help in the search for new fuels,” according to Cabria. And for a “genetic improvement of microorganisms in favor of the environment, for example creating consortiums of microbes where each one gets rid of different elements until a spill is no longer polluting”, according to Costas. Or to cure custom diseases, as Wells relates Also to improve food supply and safety and to develop more sustainable and environmentally friendly products, which Wickiser specifies.
But among the challenges is already the one that “due to the dual-use capacity of everything related to biology, these advances, which boost the ability to do good, also boost the ability of those with bad intentions to build specifically targeted weapons.” against people, crops and livestock”, recites the American scientist. Also because “biological warfare is one of the most attractive tools for terrorist organizations when it comes to generating chaos in our societies,” argues Cabria. And more so because, as Costas adds, “although scientists make advances in basic science public, applied science is given through contracts in order to achieve competitive advantages and with this knowledge is produced that is not public.”
Today, moreover, in this area, and no matter how you look at it, Asia seems to take the cake.
The exact data is somewhat difficult to know and that is why the reference is given, according to Wickiser, by the iGEM (International Genetically Enhanced Machine) contest, which encourages young scientists to participate in experiments and the development of synthetic biology products “of impact, and what is most important, ethical”, he points out. Your numbers? Very clear: using the participation in the competition by barometer of interest and work done, Asia wins. In particular, surprise? China, whether in the field of basic education, university or for commercial purposes.
In 2023 there are 180 teams in China versus 58 in the US; 249 in Asia versus 161 in Europe plus America, and this without counting Russia since the 2021 edition after the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
Artificial intelligence, high-speed telecommunications or new energy sources are among the technological revolutions that are shaping our lives. There is consensus. Synthetic biology joins them. Featured. More so when “with synthetic biology, biological warfare can reach a new dimension,” according to Cabria’s conclusion.
