Panel Discussion „Building Bridges: SynBio Communities Worldwide” at SynBioBETA. From
left to right: Cibele Zolnier (SynBioBR), Gracie To (CCiC), Sakti Subramanian (Great Lakes SynBio),
Daniel Dominguez Gomez (Allbiotech), Jason Whitfield (SynBio Australasia), Jan Kalkowski (GASB
e.V.), Shirin Bameza (SynBioUK). Image: Giovanni Maresca (SynBioUK)
This year GASB had the opportunity to join SynBioBeta 2024, the Global Conference on Synthetic Biology. The event was held from May 6 to May 9 in San Jose, California (Image 1). This marks the start to an ongoing collaboration between SynBioBeta and Synthetic Biology Associations worldwide.
John Cumbers greeted attendees with his opening speech starting the conference. This was followed by an exciting fireside chat by NASA astronaut Kate Rubens and Cornell University professor Chris Mason focusing on how engineered biological systems can enhance space settlement capabilities. A plethora of great main stage and break-out sessions followed this. The culmination of the first conference day was the fireside chat of Craig Venter (JCVI) and Linda Avey (Founder of 23andMe).
Day two started with an insightful talk of Sang Yup Lee (KAIST) taking the audience deep diving into the capabilities and possibilities of systems metabolic engineering. The day was filled with sessions centered around de-risking SynBio ventures for investors, scaling biological production platforms for diverse products, and sustainability. Besides the topics mentioned before biosecurity was prevalent throughout the event with talks and break-out sessions. A great example was the panel discussion “Biosecurity in DNA Synthesis: Establishing Screening Standards” hosted by Sarah Carter (Science Policy Consulting LLC) with panelists Nicole Wheeler (University of Birmingham), Jacob Beal (RTX BBN Technologies), and Kevin Flyangolts (Aclid). All panelists agreed that there is a need for joint efforts to safeguard commercial DNA synthesis with the help of up-to-date screening technology.
Day three focused on artificial intelligence for protein design and other SynBio solutions. This was also the day of our joint panel discussion “Building Bridges: SynBio Communities Worldwide”. The panel tried to showcase different SynBio ecosystems worldwide and discuss what contribution to the community can look like. Cibele Zolnier (SynBioBR) hosted the session with Gracie To (CCiC), Sakti Subramanian (Great Lakes SynBio) Daniel Dominguez Gomez (Allbiotech), Jason Whitfield (SynBio Australasia), Jan Kalkowski (GASB e.V.), and Shirin Bameza (SynBioUK).
Overall, the event was an amazing opportunity for GASB to represent the German Synthetic Biology community internationally. We want to thank Cibele Zolnier from SynBioBR and Stephanie McCall for the organization and hope that more associations can join us next year.
Setting up the Associations Booth on May 6, 2024 (Pre-conference day) at the San Jose Convention Center.