{"title":"Challenges of alignment in synthetic cell research.","authors":"M G J L Habets, H A E Zwart, M H Smolka","doi":"10.1016/j.tibtech.2025.05.024","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Big Science projects are often troubled by misalignments. We analyze how synthetic cell researchers handle misalignments by performing alignment work. We find that alignment work renders Big Science feasible, but involves trade-offs, for example between short-term successes and long-term goals. We thus recommend attending to the politics of alignment work.</p>","PeriodicalId":23324,"journal":{"name":"Trends in biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":"2087-2089"},"PeriodicalIF":14.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Trends in biotechnology","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2025.05.024","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/6/20 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOTECHNOLOGY & APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Big Science projects are often troubled by misalignments. We analyze how synthetic cell researchers handle misalignments by performing alignment work. We find that alignment work renders Big Science feasible, but involves trade-offs, for example between short-term successes and long-term goals. We thus recommend attending to the politics of alignment work.
期刊介绍:
Trends in Biotechnology publishes reviews and perspectives on the applied biological sciences, focusing on useful science applied to, derived from, or inspired by living systems.
The major themes that TIBTECH is interested in include:
Bioprocessing (biochemical engineering, applied enzymology, industrial biotechnology, biofuels, metabolic engineering)
Omics (genome editing, single-cell technologies, bioinformatics, synthetic biology)
Materials and devices (bionanotechnology, biomaterials, diagnostics/imaging/detection, soft robotics, biosensors/bioelectronics)
Therapeutics (biofabrication, stem cells, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, antibodies and other protein drugs, drug delivery)
Agroenvironment (environmental engineering, bioremediation, genetically modified crops, sustainable development).