GTL Featured in Recent Issues of The Scientist and The Economist

Summary

The Office of Biological and Environmental Research’s (BER) Genomics:GTL program was the subject of a Vision column by Dr. Ari Patrinos in the March 14, 2005, issue of The Scientist. The column presents a case for being “bullish” on the promise of biotechnology to deliver solutions to the principal Department of Energy (DOE) energy and environmental security missions. The use of bacteria to precipitate uranium out of groundwater, the potential for a synthetic genome to provide organisms with selected characteristics that address DOE needs, and the use of the DNA sequence of the Populus tree to create opportunities for enhancing biomass potential were cited as examples of biotechnology’s promise for DOE needs. Additionally, in The World in 2005, a companion publication to The Economist, BER is referenced as leading the way to use microbes for generating energy and cleaning up pollution. The development of a synthetic bacterium from “off-the-shelf” parts in the laboratories of Drs. Craig Venter and George Church offers the promise of synthetic biology to form the basis of important and possibly revolutionary technology.