The Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC) is a multi-institution research effort to lay the foundation for the emerging field of synthetic biology. SynBERC’s vision is to catalyze biology as an engineering discipline by developing the foundational understanding and technologies to allow researchers to design and build standardized, integrated biological systems to accomplish many particular tasks. In essence, we are making biology easier to engineer.
Just as technicians now assemble electronic devices from commercial, off-the-shelf parts, SynBERC foresees a day when synthetic biologists will design biological systems from scratch and assemble them using well-characterized biological parts, devices, and chasses. SynBERC brings together biologists, engineers, and human scientists from world-class institutions to produce the tools, techniques, and scientific understanding needed to design and construct a broad range of biological tools for health, energy, environment and, ultimately, human welfare.
Browse SynBERC publications and a list of talks and outreach events
Now available:
SynBERC is funded by the National Science Foundation's Engineering Research Center Program. Our partner institutions include UC Berkeley (lead), UC San Francisco, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Prairie View A&M University. Please browse our researchers and their interests on our People page, or take a look at our research thrusts and organization.
SynBERC releases updated guide to synthetic biology regulation in US and EUA team lead by SynBERC Practices investigator Ken Oye has produced an updated and expanded version of its Guide to the Regulation of Synthetic Biology in the US & EU. First published in 2010, the guide surveys how existing regulations apply to the emerging field of synthetic biology.
White House promotes a bioeconomyCiting advances in genetic engineering, DNA sequencing, computing and other disciplines, the White House encourages the use of renewable resources and biological manufacturing methods. Doing so could help "Americans to live longer, healthier lives, reduce our dependence on oil, address key environmental challenges, transform manufacturing processes, and increase the productivity and scope of the agricultural sector while growing new jobs and industries."
Clotho team awarded $1.1M to create bioCAD tools to automate and manage synbio experimentsSynBERC researchers Chris Anderson and Doug Densmore receive support to develop Clotho, an iPhone-like software program that aims to provide synthetic biologists with a much-needed tool for standardizing and managing biological data from one lab to the next.
George Church elected to prestigious National Academy of EngineeringPlease join us in offering George Church our warm congratulations on his much-deserved election to the National Academy of Engineering. This high honor is in recognition of his major contributions to human genome sequencing technologies and DNA synthesis and assembly.
SynBERC hosts symposium on synbio ownership, sharing & innovationThe first SynBiOSIS (Synthetic Biology Ownership, Sharing & Innovation Symposium) will be held at Stanford University on January 27-28, 2012, bringing together leading experts in intellectual property law and representatives from across various institutions who are facing property rights challenges in the development of tools and applications of synthetic biology.
Ron Weiss puts genetic engineering on steroidsScience Magazine profiles Ron Weiss, including his early skepticism of the "messy" life sciences, the sometimes awkward transition from electrical to biological engineering, and his current role as director of MIT’s Synthetic Biology Center, where he endeavors to reprogram cells.
CAD tools for RNA devices enable better engineering of biological systemsSynBERC researchers have developed CAD-type tools for engineering RNA components that hold enormous potential for microbial-based production of advanced biofuels and other goods now derived from petrochemicals.
Modifying the language of lifeSynBERC researchers at Harvard are a step closer to engineering new words in the DNA language of bacteria by co-opting one of the codons in its genetic code to give it new meaning.
