On 18-19 March 2010, the European Commission's Directorate General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO) is organising in Brussels a Workshop on synthetic biology.

Synthetic biology is an exciting emerging field of research with rapid development and promising applications. Given its multidisciplinary nature and its wide-ranging potential impact on society, synthetic biology raises a number of social, ethical and regulatory questions which need to be addressed in a timely manner.

The aim of this Workshop is to provide a clear overview of existing developments and to try to foresee the likely time-scale of future applications. Furthermore, it will be a good opportunity to discuss the main challenges (in governance, social, ethical and legal issues) facing the field of synthetic biology as well as the possible approaches for tackling these challenges.

Programme of the Workshop

• Programme(105 KB)
  
  

Proceedings of the Workshop

• Proceedings(302 KB)
  
  

Presentations at the Workshop

• Synthetic Biology – State, Importance and Development(5 MB)
  R. I Kitney
  Imperial College, UK
  
  
• Synthetic Biology activities in the Knowledge Based Bioeconomy(3 MB)
  I. Economidis
  European Commission - DG Research
  
  
• Foundations for a European SynBio(4 MB)
  T. Reiss/S. Gaisser
  Fraunhofer institute for Systems and Innovation
  
  
• Applications in SynBio: Present and Future(2 MB)
  H. Bernauer
  International Association Synthetic Biology (IASB)
  
  
• Synthetic Biology present & future - a view from Genopole(3 MB)
  F. Képès/F. Russo-Marie
  Genopole
  
  
• Turning the promise of synthetic biology into commercial reality for health and energy(3 MB)
  J. R. Cherry
  Amyris Biotechnologies Inc.
  
  
• Energy Biosciences Institute - Linking Biotechnology and Energy(3 MB)
  P. Willems
  Energy Biosciences Institute
  
  
• Synthetic Biology in Food & Health(5 MB)
  V. Martins dos Santos
  Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI)
  
  
• SynBio for the Environment(7 MB)
  V. de Lorenzo
  Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CSIC) , Madrid
  
  
• Synthetic Biology in Drug Discovery and Combating Drug Resistance(2 MB)
  W. Weber
  Bioss centre, Albert- Ludwigs-Univeristy Freiburg
  
  
• SynBio in pharmaceuticals and update onNanomot project(4 MB)
  S. Panke
  ETH, Swiss
  
  
• SynBio projects at RIKEN (and India)(6 MB)
  P. K Dhar
  RIKEN, Yokohama, Japan
  
  
• Safety, ethics and governance of SynBio: concerns and challenges(5 MB)
  G. Hermerén
  European Group of Ethics (EGE)
  
  
• Synthetic biology: a view from SCENIHR(102 KB)
  J. Bridges
  SCENIHR
  
  
• Biosafety and Public Outreach in Synthetic Biology(2 MB)
  M. Schmidt
  Organisation for International Dialogue and Conflict Management, IDC, Austria
  
  
• Why secure synthetic biology?(2 MB)
  P. Millett
  United Nations Office, Geneva (Biological Weapons Convention Implementation Support Unit)
  
  
• Public Perceptions On the Technological Frontier: The Case of Synthetic Biology ("Synbio")(2 MB)
  E. Pauwels
  Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
  
  
• Patent issues in SynBio applications(3 MB)
  B. Rutz
  European Patent Office
  
  
• Risk Governance of Synthetic Biology: International Risk Governance Council Project(218 KB)
  J. Tait
  University of Edinburgh
  
  
• Synbio Concerns: a bottom up process driven by VivAgora(3 MB)
  D. Benoit Browaeys
  VivAgora
  
  
• EC Initiatives on the governance and ethics of new and emerging technologies: the case of Synthetic Biology(366 KB)
  P. Zilgalvis
  European Commission - DG Research
  
  
• U.S. Initiative: Screening Framework Guidance for Synthetic Double-Stranded DNA Providers(599 KB)
  J. Tucker
  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  
  
• SynBio Governance approaches: Lessons from nanotechnology(429 KB)
  F. Roure
  French High Council for Industry, Energy and Technologies
  
  
• Governance of Social and Ethical Impacts of SynBio(298 KB)
  D. Stemerding/F. W.A. Brom
  Rathenau Institute
  
  
• Synthetic Genomics Options for Governance(3 MB)
  M. S. Garfinkel
  J. Craig Venter Institute