Venter does it again — Landmark paper published by the J. Craig Venter Institute
Redesigning ribosomes — Nature paper by the Chin lab
18 June 2010
This week, the findings of a UK-wide dialogue on synthetic biology have been published. This dialogue was sponsored by two of the UK Research Councils, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). It has been an ambitious initiative - recruiting 160 members of the public from different parts of the country to spend 2.5 days (spread over 3 months) learning about and talking about synthetic biology.
The aim of this dialogue exercise was "to allow the diverse perspectives of a range of UK residents to be articulated clearly and in public in order that future policies can better reflect these views, concerns and aspirations."
Several SynBioStandards Network members have been involved in this dialogue, as part of the steering group overseeing the exercise, and as researchers invited to take part in the workshops.
Findings from the dialogue showed conditional support for synthetic biology -- while there was great enthusiasm for the possibilities of the science; there were also concerns about control; who benefits; health or environmental impacts; misuse; and how to govern the science under uncertainty. The report presents five key questions for synthetic biology researchers to consider:
-- What is the purpose of synthetic biology?
-- Why do you want to do it?
-- What are you going to gain from it?
-- What else is it going to do?
-- How do you know you are right?
Definitely food for thought! To access the report and associated commentaries, follow the links below.
The Synthetic Biology Dialogue Report
Commentary in Nature by Colin Macilwain
