About this Research Topic
The term “synthetic biology” refers to an approach where the basic elements that govern the operational functionality of a living cell are placed together to generate life forms with novel properties and characteristics. It is a multidisciplinary science, deriving knowledge from numerous disciplines such as genetics, chemical engineering, systems biology and computational biology, Breakthroughs in gene synthesis over the last number of years has allowed us to design any DNA sequence of interest, creating the possibility to create complex systems inside cells with novel functions to tackle immunological disease and inflammation. Synthetic immunology involves engineering cells to express novel natural or synthetic genes in order to guide and induce a response in patients. Engineered mammalian cells have numerous desirable properties as therapeutic platforms, including the ability to support large networks of transgenes, the potential to be drawn directly from the patient, and the ability to perform useful functions such as migration, secretion, membrane fusion and target cell lysis. An example of this antibody engineering is the development of CAR T cell therapy, which has shown much promise in eliminating tumour cells from patients with blood cancers.
Systemic inflammation underlies a number of immunological diseases and over the last number of years, systems and computational biologists have aimed to tackle the range of inter-related inflammatory, neural, metabolic and physiological responses seen in patients with autoimmune disease. These approaches have involved reprogramming of the immune system using biohybrid devices that “neutralise” the inflammatory chemokine and reduce inflammation.
This research topic highly welcomes original research articles, review manuscripts and methods articles covering, but not restricted to, the following aspects:
• Novel immunotherapies for treatment of cancer, autoimmune disease, inflammatory diseases and immunodeficiencies
• Novel devices that reprogram the immune system of patients in inflammatory disease states
• Systems wide approaches to mapping the inter-related signalling pathways in patients with chronic inflammation
Systemic inflammation underlies a number of immunological diseases and over the last number of years, systems and computational biologists have aimed to tackle the range of inter-related inflammatory, neural, metabolic and physiological responses seen in patients with autoimmune disease. These approaches have involved reprogramming of the immune system using biohybrid devices that “neutralise” the inflammatory chemokine and reduce inflammation.
This research topic highly welcomes original research articles, review manuscripts and methods articles covering, but not restricted to, the following aspects:
• Novel immunotherapies for treatment of cancer, autoimmune disease, inflammatory diseases and immunodeficiencies
• Novel devices that reprogram the immune system of patients in inflammatory disease states
• Systems wide approaches to mapping the inter-related signalling pathways in patients with chronic inflammation
Keywords: synthetic immunology, synthetic biology, inflammation, synthetic immune system
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
