Amyris Renewable Diesel Receives EPA Registration

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As Synthetic Biology Becomes Affordable, Amateur Labs Thrive

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Harvard Researchers Create Computer Language That can Penetrate the “Mind” of a Cell

“Through incorporating principles of engineering, we’ve developed a language that can describe biology in the same way a biologist would,” says Gunawardena. “The potential here is enormous. This opens the door to actually performing discovery science, to look at things like drug interactions, right on the computer.”

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Everything you needed to know about human-created life forms but were afraid to ask

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Mad Science Contest: Build a Lifeform and We’ll Send You to Hong Kong or Give You $1000

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Synthetic Biology Concept note by the International Risk Governance Council

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Synthetic Biology: social and ethical challenges

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Synthetic biology gives ecosystem clues

Bioengineers have used genetically altered bacteria to provide new insights into how the complex relationship of predator and prey.
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international electronic conference on the societal aspects of synthetic biology

international electronic
conference on the societal aspects of synthetic biology, which will take
place from Monday 5 May to Tuesday 3 June 2008 at
http://www.synbiosafe.eu/forum

This e-conference on ethical, safety, security and other societal issues of
synthetic biology is hosted by “SYNBIOSAFE: Safety and Ethical Aspects of
Synthetic Biology”, a two years FP6 project funded by the European
Commission. The aim is to stimulate an international and inclusive debate on
these issues at an early stage.

After a first fact finding mission we would now like to share our points of
view and discuss selected societal issues and open questions with a wider
group of experts and interested stakeholders. The issues we would like to
discuss fall under the following three areas:

€ Forum I: Ethical Aspects
€ Forum II: Biosafety Challenges
€ Forum III: Biosecurity Awareness

In addition there is also a section on other societal issues, including

€ Forum IV: Intellectual Property Rights
€ Forum V: Regulation and governance, and
€ Forum VI: Public perception, communication and the media

For more information on these thematic areas, specific questions to be
discussed, and how to post a contribution, please have a look at our
background document:

Click to access SYNBIOSAFE-background_paper.pdf

In case of any technical difficulty with the registration, please contact
Gregor Giersch on gregor.giersch@idialog.eu

We would greatly appreciate your help in forwarding this announcement to
your colleagues and networks.

Kind regards,

Markus Schmidt, IDC
SYNBIOSAFE Project Coordinator

IGEM 2008

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Contrasts: Craig Venter and NSABB on synthetic biology

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University of Groningen Forms Synthetic Biology Center

The key research areas of the CSB are as follows:

– cell factories for producing pharmaceuticals (including antibiotics) and important biological proteins
– systems for controlled drug delivery and new diagnostics
– materials (e.g. biosensors and biochips) based on biological components.

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SynBio 4.0

The Fourth International Meeting on Synthetic Biology (SB4.0) will be held from 10-12 October 2008 at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

The organization of the event is being led by the BioBricks Foundation in partnership with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), the University of Hong Kong (HKU), and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).

SB4.0 will be a significant meeting, building on the past successes of SB1.0 (MIT), 2.0 (UC Berkeley), and 3.0 (ETH Zurich).

UPDATE: Given all the early progress in synthetic biology, plus how much there is still to do, SB4.0 is going to be an amazing meeting. The organizers of the meeting can’t pretend that we understand everything that should be presented or discussed at the conference. Thus, we are asking for your help. If you would like to suggest a topic for discussion, or organize a breakout session, or can suggest whatever would work best for a particular idea, please join the discussion list and let us know.
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The Open Biohacking Project / Kit

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Pursuing Synthetic Life, Dazzled by Reality NY Times

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What can synthetic biology do for you?

iGEM 2007 participants talk about the potential of synthetic biology at the 2007 Jamboree.
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OneWorld Health, Amyris Biotechnologies and sanofi-aventis Announce Development Agreement for Semisynthetic Artemisinin

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Biologist Venter will be visiting scholar at Origins of Life Initiative Harvard University

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Researchers Develop Method for Enzymatic Production of Hydrogen from Biomass at High Yields

The synthetic metabolic pathway for conversion of polysaccharides and water to hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Click to enlarge.

Researchers at Virginia Tech, Oak Ridge National Laboratory ORNL, The synthetic metabolic pathway for conversion of polysaccharides and water to hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Click to enlarge.

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microorganisms and plants in the synthesis of nanoparticles

Abstract Nanotechnology involves the production,
manipulation and use of materials ranging in size
from less than a micron to that of individual atoms.
Although nanomaterials may be synthesized using
chemical approaches, it is now possible to include the
use of biological materials. In this review, we
critically assess the role of microorganisms and
plants in the synthesis of nanoparticles.
J Nanopart Res (2008) 10:507–517