If there is a difference between synthetic biology and plain old genetic engineering, it is one of scale. Genetic engineering typically relies on just adding a gene here or there. Synthetic biology is about working on big chunks of the genome - inserting or deleting entire sections.
As a result, it's not a surprise that people see gene synthesis as a key enabling technology for synthetic biology. You need bigger chunks of DNA. Ergo, you need to synthesise a lot of DNA. The J Craig Venter Insti....
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