IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v12y2021i1d10.1038_s41467-020-20764-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sensing the future of bio-informational engineering

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas A. Dixon

    (Macquarie University)

  • Thomas C. Williams

    (Macquarie University
    Macquarie University)

  • Isak S. Pretorius

    (Macquarie University)

Abstract

The practices of synthetic biology are being integrated into ‘multiscale’ designs enabling two-way communication across organic and inorganic information substrates in biological, digital and cyber-physical system integrations. Novel applications of ‘bio-informational’ engineering will arise in environmental monitoring, precision agriculture, precision medicine and next-generation biomanufacturing. Potential developments include sentinel plants for environmental monitoring and autonomous bioreactors that respond to biosensor signaling. As bio-informational understanding progresses, both natural and engineered biological systems will need to be reimagined as cyber-physical architectures. We propose that a multiple length scale taxonomy will assist in rationalizing and enabling this transformative development in engineering biology.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas A. Dixon & Thomas C. Williams & Isak S. Pretorius, 2021. "Sensing the future of bio-informational engineering," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-20764-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20764-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20764-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-020-20764-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Briardo Llorente & Thomas C. Williams & Hugh D. Goold & Isak S. Pretorius & Ian T. Paulsen, 2022. "Harnessing bioengineered microbes as a versatile platform for space nutrition," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.
    2. Sally Wang & Chen-Yu Chen & John R. Rzasa & Chen-Yu Tsao & Jinyang Li & Eric VanArsdale & Eunkyoung Kim & Fauziah Rahma Zakaria & Gregory F. Payne & William E. Bentley, 2023. "Redox-enabled electronic interrogation and feedback control of hierarchical and networked biological systems," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.
    3. Thomas A. Dixon & Paul S. Freemont & Richard A. Johnson & Isak S. Pretorius, 2022. "A global forum on synthetic biology: the need for international engagement," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-5, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-20764-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.