a biological clock, by combining genes within E. coli cells. 2003: The most widely used standardized DNA parts, BioBrick plasmids, are invented by Tom Knight. These parts will become central to the international Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM) founded at MIT in the following year. 2003: Researchers engineer an artemisinin precursor pathway in E. coli. 2004: First international conference for synthetic biology, Synthetic Biology 1.0 (SB1.0) is held at MIT. 2005: Researchers develop a light-sensing circuit in E. coli. Another group designs circuits capable of multicellular pattern formation. 2006: Researchers engineer a synthetic circuit that promotes bacterial invasion of tumour cells. 2010: Researchers publish in Science the first synthetic bacterial genome, called M. mycoides JCVI-syn1.0. The genome is made from chemically-synthesized DNA using yeast recombination. 2011: Functional synthetic chromosome arms are engineered in yeast. 2012: Charpentier and Doudna labs publish in Science the programming of CRISPR-Cas9 bacterial immunity for targeting DNA cleavage. This technology greatly simplified and expanded eukaryotic gene editing. 2019: Scientists at ETH Zurich report the creation of the first bacterial genome, named Caulobacter ethensis-2.0, made entirely by a computer, although a related viable form of C. ethensis-2.0 does not yet exist. 2019: Researchers report the production of a new synthetic (possibly artificial) form of viable life, a variant of the bacteria Escherichia coli, by reducing the natural number of 64 codons in the bacterial genome to 59 codons instead, in order to encode 20 amino acids. 2020: Scientist created the first xenobot, programmable synthetic organism derived from frog cells and designed by AI. 2021: Scientist reported that xenobots are able to self-replicate by gathering loose cells in the environment and then forming new xenobot. Perspectives It is a field whose scope is expanding in terms of systems integration, engineered organisms and practical findings. Engineers view biology as technology (in other words, a given system includes biotechnology or its biological engineering) Synthetic biology includes the broad redefinition and expansion of biotechnology, with the ultimate goal of being able to design and build engineered live biological systems that process information, manipulate chemicals, fabricate materials and structures, produce energy, provide food, and maintain and enhance human health, as well as advance fundamental knowledge of biological systems and our environment. Researchers and companies working in synthetic biology are using nature's power to solve issues in agriculture, manufacturing, and medicine. Due to more powerful genetic engineering capabilities and decreased DNA synthesis and