Dr. Jay Keasling
University of California, Berkeley

Dr. Keasling explains how synthetic biology builds on the advances in molecular, cell, and systems biology and seeks to transform biology in the same way that synthesis transformed chemistry and integrated circuit design transformed computing. Just as engineers now design integrated circuits based on the known physical properties of materials and then fabricate functioning circuits and entire processors (with relatively high reliability), synthetic biologists will soon design and build engineered biological systems.

Synthetic biology is used to create inexpensive, effective anti-malarial drugs. Currently, malaria infects 300–500 million people and causes 1–2 million deaths each year, primarily children in Africa and Asia. One of the principal obstacles to addressing this global health threat is a lack of effective, affordable drugs. The chloroquine-based drugs that were used widely in the past have lost effectiveness because the Plasmodium parasite that causes malaria has become resistant to the drugs. The faster-acting, more effective artemisinin-based drugs—as currently produced from plant sources—are too expensive for large-scale use in the countries where they are needed most. The development of this technology will eventually reduce the cost of artemisinin-based combination therapies significantly below their current price. Dr. Keasling describs how the new drugs are engineered and the prospects for translating this research to people most in need of these drugs.

Dr. Mitchell Lazar
University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Lazar discusses the increasing prevalence of diabetes and obesity. Currently, approximately 18 million people in the United States (6.2% of the population) have diabetes. The rate is even higher among the elderly, Hispanics, Native Americans, and African Americans. Diabetes currently costs the nation $132 billion a year. The Centers for Disease Control has projected that one out of three children born in the United States in the year 2000 will develop diabetes in his/her lifetime. Most of the increase in diabetes is related to an increase in obesity; 58 million people in the U.S. are now considered obese.

Both diabetes and obesity are complex diseases tied to genetic and environmental factors. Environmental factors include increased access to low-cost, high-caloric foods, as well as decreased physical activity. These environmental—and genetic—factors have devastating effects on metabolic pathways controlling body fat, blood sugar, and cardiovascular health. Basic and translational research has begun to shed light on the ways by which metabolic pathways are influenced by genes and environment. And we are on the verge of major breakthroughs in recognizing the gene–environment interactions that underlie obesity.

Dr. V. Craig Jordan
Fox Chase Cancer Center

Dr. Jordan is a leader in studying the effects of estrogen-blocking drugs on breast cancer. While trying to understand why some patients' breast cancer resisted tamoxifen treatment, Dr. Jordan and his team uncovered information that led to the use of tamoxifen as a chemopreventive - a momentous advance in prevention science. Tamoxifen is currently our only weapon to reduce breast cancer in premenopausal women. Fortunately, it does not cause an increase in either endometrial cancer or blood clots, which are major concerns for postmenopausal women.

Dr. Jordan continues to study the genre of drugs called SERMS (selective estrogen receptor modulators) to further understand how they work and what effect they have on breast cancer development. Along with tamoxifen, Dr. Jordan studies raloxifene, a new medicine now shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Both tamoxifen and raloxifene act by occupying estrogen receptors in breast and other tissue, and therefore block estrogen's message to the cell to divide and spread. Nevertheless, further investment and research will allow us to continue to expand our menu of medicines and drug development in the future.