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Setting the bases for synthetic biology in Europe

Objective

Synthetic biology has emerged as a very recent but highly promising approach to re-organizing the scientific biological endeavor by integrating central elements of engineering design.

By applying the tool box of engineering disciplines such as electrical, mechanical, or chemical engineering and computer sciences, including the vigorous application of modeling techniques and organizing the development of novel biological systems along a hierarchical systems architecture with defined and standardized interfaces, synthetic biology aims at no less than revolutionizing the way we do bioengineering today. If successful, synthetic biology will transform bioengineering into a highly successful and sustainable life science industry. However, such an endeavor requires urgently a coordination effort from the very beginning in order to point the transitions into the most promising directions.

We will establish this coordination on several levels:
- we will include the majority of European scientists and engineers currently active in the field and reach out to include crucial developments in the USA and Asia via a communication platform;
- we will establish the intellectual foundation for synthetic biology by recruiting the required competence from neighboring engineering disciplines;
- we will contribute to the formation of concepts and the implementation of state-of-the-art design methodology by starting to implement a dedicated IT infrastructure;
- we will start providing the intellectual fundamentals map the most promising approaches to standardizations of procedures and parts; and
- we will embed the early development of synthetic biology into the most meaningful industrial context by exploring the industrial interface including IP issues.

In addressing these aspects, we will provide a firm foundation for synthetic biology to prosper in Europe and to fulfill indeed its role as a future engine for economic growth.

Call for proposal

FP6-2005-NEST-PATH
See other projects for this call

Coordinator

EIDGENOESSISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE ZÜRICH
EU contribution
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Address
Raemistrasse 101
ZURICH
Switzerland

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Participants (10)