Scientists share recipes: communication needed in synthetic biology

The language of scientific research is English: unlike many scientists around the globe I do not have to be at the very least bilingual to pursue this career path. For precision communication is key.

(1) Scientists communicate

How does research move forward? Of course, the sharing of ideas. 

Have you ever had a brilliant idea? For example, a new recipe. You share it with your friend over a cup of coffee. They suggest adding a different ingredient or altering a cooking process based on them coming up with a similar recipe. The combination of ideas  improves the original recipes to produce a dish that is on a whole new level.

However... what if you both spoke different languages? It would make it a difficult task to communicate to technical information. Similarly what if you just gave them the end result (like the MasterChef palate test) and asked them to reproduce the dish?
You would expect different results.

(2) Palate test on MasterChef produces differing dishes

Science does have similarities to cooking. Following a protocol (recipe); using different materials (ingredients) and various equipment (utensils).

In order to move some of the newest areas of science forward, a common language and practices need to be exercised.

The emerging area of synthetic biology ( a cool exciting area!): it combines various areas of biology to create  new biological features, such as: enzymes, biochemical pathways and cells. Effectively engineering but with biological materials. It also involves the redesign of natural biological systems.

Okay, this all sounds interesting... but how does this relate to you? The big dream for synthetic biologists is a future where fuel, drugs, chemicals and food are manufactured by microbes. Yes there is still a long way to go to move from the lab bench to biofactories.

As a scientist it is important to be able to reproduce your results (although if a result is reproducible it doesn't necessarily mean that it is right). So meticulously recording your exact methods and the technical information about your materials and experimental parameters is essential-like sharing a recipe with a friend. You cannot leave out some of the details about the cooking process.

For new emerging fields such as synthetic biology the need for standard ways of reporting technical information is paramount for the field to develop.

After all, what we can achieve together is far greater than what we can achieve alone.

References

Hayden E, 2015., Synthetic biologists seek standards for nascent field., Nature news, 520, pp 141-142, doi: 10.1038/520141a

Figures

(1) https://blog.labfolder.com/data-sharing/

           (2)  http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05rhtyw/masterchef-series-11-episode-18 47:14