8

Thursday, June 28, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NEWS

1014 VAUGHN AVAIL Fall 2018
#1 is being rented by the room for $700/m 
including utilities
If you have a group of 5, rent the whole unit 
for $3100 plus Electric to DTE
#2 is a 6 Bdrm for $3720 plus Electric to 
DTE • 734‑996‑1991

1015 PACKARD
3 Bdrm Apt Avail Fall 2018
2 parking space, onsite laundry, 1st floor
$2250 + $120/month for electric to DTE 
Call 734‑996‑1991

CENTRAL CAMPUS, FURNISHED 
rooms for students, shared kitch., ldry., 
bath., internet, rent from $700 and up. 
Call 734‑276‑0886.

HOUSES AVAILABLE FALL 2018
1016 Packard ‑ 4/6 Bdrm ‑ $3080‑$4020
401 Pauline ‑ 4 Bdrm ‑ $2900
827 Brookwood ‑ 4 Bdrm ‑ $2900

Showings M‑F 10‑3 • 734‑996‑1991

Classifieds

Call: #734-418-4115
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com

FOR RENT

ACROSS
1 Barfly
4 Covered with
new grass
10 Quick snooze
13 “Fortunate Son”
band, briefly
14 Imagines
16 “Science Friday”
host Flatow
17 Generous nature
19 S&L offerings
20 Fortified
Portuguese wine
21 Lingering traces
23 Eternally
24 Org. Edward
Snowden worked
for
27 Cigna rival
28 Exercising
control over
one’s own affairs
31 Ultrasound goo
32 One who minds
his manor
33 Bridal bio word
34 Speak (up)
37 Arabian
Peninsula
resident
39 Admit, with “up”
40 World Cup chant
41 Persian Gulf
republic
42 CBS forensic
series
44 1945 Physics
Nobelist who
discovered the
exclusion
principle
48 Bottled water
brand
49 “__ out!”
50 Minor dents
53 Church official
55 “Just watch me!”
57 Programming
pioneer Lovelace
58 Eighteen holes ...
and a hint to this
puzzle’s circled
letters
61 Hubbub
62 Blinking diner
sign
63 Asian New Year
64 “District 9” extras
65 Blended
66 Texter’s “No
way!”

DOWN
1 Loser
2 Indian, for one
3 Baseball deals
4 Go unused
5 Musk, e.g.
6 Neutralize, as a
snake
7 Peace Nobelist
Hammarskjöld
8 WWII zone
9 Take-out order?
10 Ingredient in
therapeutic gum
11 Battle of the
Bulge region
12 Excerpts
15 Microchip found
in cameras,
briefly
18 Go back on a
promise
22 One with nest
eggs
25 One-named “A
Seat at the
Table” singer
26 HarperCollins
romance imprint
29 Native plants
30 CNN
correspondent
Hill

34 Coca-Cola sports
drink
35 “Two thumbs
up!”
36 New Orleans
NBA team
38 Quite a few
39 Clerk’s chore
41 Deliberately
overlook
43 Decongestant
brand
45 Blubber

46 Rated (oneself)
highly
47 All things
considered
51 Clay being of
Jewish folklore
52 Introduction to
geometry?
54 Ramble
56 Essence
59 4 x 4, for short
60 Art Ross Trophy
org.

By Christopher Adams

©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
06/28/18

06/28/18

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Thursday, June 28, 2018

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

Report details 
developments in 
synthetic biology 

By SAYALI AMIN

Daily Staff Reporter

Michael Imperiale, an esteemed 
microbiology 
and 
immunology 
professor at the University of 
Michigan, 
recently 
chaired 
a 
national committee to help write a 
report that aimed to prioritize and 
identify potential threats in the 
advancing field of synthetic biology. 
The report, titled “Biodefense in 
the Age of Synthetic Biology,” was 
sponsored by the U.S. Department 
of Defense and published by the 
National Academies of Science, 
Engineering, and Medicine.”
According 
to 
Imperiale, 
synthetic biology alters biological 
organisms through various types of 
computational and design methods.
“Synthetic biology refers to a set 
of concepts, approaches and tools 
that facilitate the modification or 
creation of biological organisms,” 
Imperiale said. “These approaches 
are, for the most part, founded in 
engineering principles.”
While synthetic biology has 
many positive contributions to 
society such as biofuels and new 
drug development, Imperiale said it 
also has the capability to do harm.
“The Department of Defense 
asked the National Academies to 
take this study because they really 
wanted to get some advice about 
what the potential vulnerabilities 
with respect to biodefense would be 
due to this emerging technology,” 
Imperiale said.
Patrick 
Boyle, 
an 
organism 
designer at Ginkgo BioWorks Inc. 
who also helped author the report, 
has direct experience with the 
synthetic biology industry.
“When I was a graduate student 
in synthetic biology less than 10 
years ago, I synthesized about 10 
genes over the course of my entire 
thesis work,” Boyle wrote in an 
email interview. “At Ginkgo, my 
team designs tens of thousands of 
genes every month for synthesis. 
This work gives me a perspective 
on how ‘bad actors’ might use 
synthetic biology if they have a 
lot of resources and large teams at 

their disposal.”
Imperiale explained the process 
of writing this report could be 
broken down into two parts.
“The first thing we did was to 
come up with a framework for how 
to look at these capabilities that are 
enabled by synthetic biology and 
then determine how much concern 
should we have about any of these 
capabilities,” Imperiale said. “In 
the second part what we did was 
apply the framework to a series of 
capabilities that we thought were 
the most obvious to think about.”
The report ranks 12 capabilities 
of synthetic biology in terms of 
their potential threat to society 
based on the framework created. 
Altering bacteria ranks near the top 
of the list, according to Imperiale.
“One of the ones we thought was 
of most concern was modifying 
bacteria to make them more 
dangerous,” Imperiale said. “For 
example, someone could take a 
bacterium that causes disease and 
engineer it so that it’s now resistant 
to antibiotic treatment; it’s now 
much harder to treat.”
The framework is intended to 
apply to any new developments in 
synthetic biology that may arise in 
the future as well.
“Biotechnology 
is 
changing 
rapidly, so our ranking of threats 
in the report itself is just a snapshot 
of 
current 
capabilities,” 
Boyle 
wrote. “I expect the framework 
itself to be more enduring as it 
anticipates that the barriers and 
bottlenecks limiting the nefarious 
uses of synthetic biology will be 
challenged by new discoveries.”
In an email interview, Nina Lin, 
chemical 
engineering 
associate 
professor at the University, wrote 
her lab uses synthetic biology to 
address issues of renewable and 
sustainable fuel as well as chemical 
production.
“It’s very important to point out 
that the synthetic biology research 
community is very aware and 
proactive to the dual use of this 
highly promising and powerful 
technology,” Lin wrote. “Almost 
at every major synthetic biology 
conference, there are sessions 
dedicated to the safety issues where 
researchers and other experts come 
together to discuss and formulate 
preventive plans.”

U-M prof discusses 
dangers of biotech

