"

From 2012e.igem.org

Challenges

Despite the growth potential in synthetic biology, there are challenges and obstacles to this industry. The quality of parts is unpredictable, undermining the use of standard parts in synthetic biology. The industry is characterized by long testing times and a high cost because of the research and development. For example, it took 150 years of work to uncover genes to control the expression of artemisinin. Even if the quality of parts can be upheld, there is variability within the biological system. Despite these challenges, researchers and biotechnology companies are providing innovative solutions to these problems. BIOFAB is currently professionally producing and characterizing new and existing synthetic biology parts. The BioBrick standard is a pre-defined flanking sequence that can reduce the amount of time to produce. Industrial machinery can assemble these parts. Lastly, researchers are developing systems that operate independently of the cell that allows freedom to tweak without disrupting the survival of the cell. This can help reduce the variability within biological systems^{[http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100120/full/463288a.html]}.