The pursuit of synthetic biology is both the design and fabrication of biological components and systems that do not exist in the natural world, as well as the re-design and fabrication of already existing biological systems. The core of this concept draws on cross-disciplinary and biological engineering design principles to enable the creation of "synthetic" or hybrid biological systems with unprecedented power and efficiency. Eventually, it is envisioned to build up from scratch - bottom-up approaches - cellular components, compartments and even cells to create living devices for use as molecular-scale factories, sensors to detect chemical weapons, devices to clean up pollutants, diagnose diseases, deliver vaccines, and produce hydrogen from water and sunlight, or to create novel, hybrid materials. Other on-going efforts - top-down approaches - with ultimately the very same goals, focus on simplifying and genetically reprogramming existing cells with simple genomes. Thus, this emerging field has tremendous scientific, technological and economical potential and downstream impacts. However, regardless of a number of recent advances in this regard, Synthetic Biology is as yet in its infancy, with knowledge highly scattered and scarce, and facing many serious scientific, technological and societal challenges ahead. This first GRC on Synthetic Biology will provide an in-depth discussion forum among practitioners of the various fields, with particular focus on top-down vs. bottom-up approaches aimed at re-constructing and re-programming life.
Intellectual Merit: This conference seeks to foster in-depth discussions to pinpoint the challenges, potential and pitfalls, and to lay the foundation for future developments and consolidation of the field towards fulfilling the envisaged, ambitious goals. Because of the lack of a common language among the scientists from the many different fields involved, longer meetings with large blocks of time dedicated to discussions, rather than series of presentations held at "traditional" conferences, are favored for establishing such a foundation. The conference program was thus designed to promote these ambitious goals.
Broader Impacts : While ensuring the highest scientific quality and standing, the conference program was developed to promote the interaction between established researchers and the up-and-coming investigators at the earlier stages of their careers. Furthermore, both the invited speakers and attendees balance well in terms of gender, geography/continents, ethnicities and expertise. In addition, this conference will provide opportunities for junior scientists and graduate students to present their work in poster format and exchange ideas with leaders in the field. The collegial atmosphere of this conference, with programmed discussion sessions as well as opportunities for informal gatherings in the afternoons and evenings, provides a forum for scientists from different disciplines to brainstorm and to promote cross-disciplinary collaborations in the various research areas represented. Thus, this conference will consolidate a critical mass of practitioners and research topics in an emerging field that promises tremendous scientific, economic and societal impacts.
The Gordon Research Conference on SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY was held at Mount Snow Resort, West Dover, Vermont, June 9-14th, 2013. The Conference was well-attended with 140 participants (attendees list attached). The attendees represented the spectrum of endeavor in this field coming from academia, industry, and government laboratories, both U.S. and foreign scientists, senior researchers, young investigators, and students. Of the 140 attendees, 62 voluntarily responded to a general inquiry regarding ethnicity which appears on our registration forms. Of the 62 respondents, 18% were Minorities – 0% Hispanic, 16% Asian and 2% African American. Approximately 26 % of the participants at the 2013 meeting were women. In designing the formal speakers program, emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field. There was a conscious effort to stimulate lively discussion about the key issues in the field today. Time for formal presentations was limited in the interest of group discussions. In order that more scientists could communicate their most recent results, poster presentation time was scheduled. Attached is a copy of the formal schedule and speaker program and the poster program. In addition to these formal interactions, "free time" was scheduled to allow informal discussions. Such discussions are fostering new collaborations and joint efforts in the field. Thank you for your support of this Conference. As you know, in the interest of promoting the presentation of unpublished and frontier-breaking research, Gordon Research Conferences does not permit publication of meeting proceedings.
