合成生物学是一个广泛的术语,涵盖了多种科学方法,技术,和实践。将生物学与工程学结合起来,Synbio寻求设计和构建生物系统,要么通过增加新功能来改善活细胞,或通过结合天然和合成成分来创造新的结构。和所有新技术一样,合成生物学提出了一些伦理考虑。为了了解这些问题可能是什么,以及它们与伦理学文献中关于合生体的内容有何关系,我们对澳大利亚合成生物学中心的合成生物学家进行了访谈研究.科学家们发现了一系列与该领域密切相关的道德挑战,包括不稳定的就业,来自行业的压力,性别不平等,以及Synbio炒作的负面影响。这些挑战与伦理学文献中确定的挑战明显不同,他们对Synbio的危害和益处的处理在很大程度上仍然是推测性和抽象的。在我们讨论的务实,合成生物学家每天面临的伦理问题,我们说明了废物或研究完整性问题如何在实验室的生活经验中发挥关键作用,指导该领域的长期研究轨迹。在确认我们参与者对该领域的观点的道德相关性时,我们认为,他们提出的主题必须包括在任何对synbio作为一个领域的伦理分析中。
Synthetic biology is a broad term covering multiple scientific methodologies, technologies, and practices. Pairing biology with engineering, synbio seeks to design and build biological systems, either through improving living cells by adding in new functions, or creating new structures by combining natural and synthetic components. As with all new technologies, synthetic biology raises a number of ethical considerations. In order to understand what these issues might be, and how they relate to those covered in ethics literature on synbio, we conducted an interview
study with practicing synthetic biologists affiliated with a synthetic biology centre in Australia. Scientists identified a range of ethical challenges germane to the field, including precarious employment, pressures from industry, gender inequity, and the negative effects of the hyping of synbio. These challenges differed markedly from those identified in the ethics literature, whose treatment of the harms and benefits of synbio remains largely speculative and abstract. In our discussion of the pragmatic, every day ethical issues synthetic biologists face, we illustrate how issues of waste or research integrity play pivotal roles in everything from lived experiences in the laboratory, to long-term research trajectories guiding the field. In a confirmation of the ethical relevance of our participant\'s views on the field, we argue that the subjects they raise must be included in any ethical analysis of synbio as a field.