Summary

 Synthetic biology is a relatively new field of biological research and development that focuses on the engineering of genetic molecular machines with a specific predefined function. Plainly put, the newly engineered organism functions as a machine. It can process information, manufacture, heal and even diagnose. We just have to engineer it to do so. The famous quote "Biology is the nanotechnology that works" is currently being put to the test on a worldwide scale. The application of these machines is theoretically boundless. In laboratories worldwide synthetic biology technologies are being rationally designed to assist in diagnosis or disrupt disease mechanisms. In the not too distant future they are expected to reach the clinical setting. This new field should be distinguished from classic genetic engineering. The latter researches naturally found DNA segments via cloning. It is weakly associated with engineering. Synthetic biology focuses on the engineering of molecular biological machines for the benefit of mankind. This is done via synthetic (computer printed) DNA sequences, man-designed or altered in silico. In this article I will briefly introduce synthetic biology, elaborate on the Biobrick Foundation as an independent fast-growing synthetic biology-sharing movement, and report on selected developing applications for medicine.