Project description
An inclusive approach will lead to accepted standards for synthetic biology
Synthetic biology, as its name implies, involves engineering or re-engineering biological systems and subsystems to endow them with desired abilities and even ones not present in nature. The engineers developing the synthetic structural, biological, electrical and chemical circuits underlying these systems require standardised building blocks much as an electrical engineer might need transistors and resistors. When it comes to defining standard biological components, there is plenty of room for disagreement as the field spans not only biology and engineering but also ethics and environmental considerations. The EU-funded BioRoboost project is bringing multidisciplinary experts together to overcome the issues impeding standardisation and achieve a realistic and flexible toolbox of standard biological parts.
Objective
Synthetic Biology is an engineering research field aiming at (re)designing biological circuits for applied purposes. As any other engineering field, it strongly relies on the use of well-defined, universal and robust standard components. The outstanding success of synthetic biology in the last years should not hide the difficulties in defining biological standards. There are both historical and technical difficulties to reach that ambitious goal. On the former: the crossroad nature of synthetic biology involving mainly biologists/biotechnologists and engineers, whose views on the
standardisation of living beings tend to differ; among the latter: the intrinsic features of live (mutation, emergent properties, fitness biasses, variability and, of course, evolution). In BIOROBOOST we propose to finally overcome cultural issues and to dramatically advance in solving technical difficulties by i) gathering the most relevant stakeholders of all the aspects of standardisation in biology in Europe in a co-creation scenario; ii) by empirically testing cultural (lab-centric) standardisation practices and by promoting a consensus conceptual and technical redefinition
of biological standards; and, finally, iii) by fostering a realistic and flexible toolbox of standard biological parts, including a reduced set of specialised chassis for specific applications as well as a renewed conceptual framework to inform policy makers, scientific and other societal actors.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
CSA - Coordination and support actionCoordinator
46010 Valencia
Spain
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Participants (27)
Legal entity established in a non-associated third country that is not eligible for funding under Article 10 of the Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013 laying down the rules for participation and dissemination in Horizon 2020.
98195 9472 Seattle Wa
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Legal entity established in a non-associated third country that is not eligible for funding under Article 10 of the Regulation (EU) No 1290/2013 laying down the rules for participation and dissemination in Horizon 2020.
94305 2004 Stanford
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1030 Wien
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
08003 Barcelona
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28006 Madrid
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46980 Paterna
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
2800 Kongens Lyngby
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EH8 9YL Edinburgh
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1207 Geneve
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Participation ended
8092 Zuerich
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00131 Roma
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
75007 Paris
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9000 Gent
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SW7 2AZ LONDON
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1000 Ljubljana
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35037 Marburg
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NE1 7RU Newcastle Upon Tyne
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38221 Volos
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0313 Oslo
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28004 Madrid
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CV4 8UW COVENTRY
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80539 Munchen
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100084 BEIJING
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02127 Boston
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
169-8050 Tokyo
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119077 Singapore
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28040 Madrid
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