Synthetic biology for nanotechnology

Synthetic biology—the redesign of biological molecules, structures and organisms—is potentially one of the most powerful emerging technologies today. The modification of biological structures has already been pursued for a variety of nanotechnological objectives; but synthetic biology could provide the tools and understanding needed both to develop ‘nanobiotechnology’ in a more systematic manner and to expand the scope of what it might achieve. In this article I shall review what has been attained so far in this field, and look at some of the nanoscale possibilities that an engineering approach to cell biology might herald.