Introduction to Synthetic Biology

When:  Aug 7, 2018 from 14:00 to 15:00 (ET)
This webinar will give participants a general overview of synthetic biology (Synbio). Synbio is an evolving interdisciplinary field that applies principles from engineering, biology, math and other fields to design and re-design biological components and systems that do not already exist in the natural world. Synthetic Biologists, or biobuilders, create or engineer living cells to do something useful, for example, cure or treat diseases, make a medicine, etc. Generally, synthetic biologists design a portion of DNA and merge it with an existing cell or organism. This allows the new modified cell or organism to behave a certain way according to design specifications. The webinar will cover terminology, synthetic biology methods, current applications and ethical and social challenges of synthetic biology. Lastly, biosafety and biosecurity considerations of synthetic biology projects will be discussed.