The Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC) is a multi-institution research effort to lay the foundation for synthetic biology, which aims to design and assemble biological components into integrated systems to accomplish specific tasks Engineered biological systems have enormous potential to solve a wide range of problems in human health, industrial processes, and renewable energy and the environment. SynBERC brings together many of the pioneers of synthetic biology, including prominent biologists and engineers from world-class institutions, to work together to lay the foundation for this nascent field. View a schematic representation of the project organization.

Broader impacts

• Industry: As catalyzed by SynBERC, synthetic biology promises to transform the biotechnology, high-technology, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries, as well as suppliers of genetic tools and custom DNA synthesis companies through its relationships with industry in synthetic biology-related fields.
• Education and training: SynBERC will educate a new cadre of synthetic biologists and biological engineers capable of designing biological parts and useful biological systems. Finally, SynBERC’s education program will provide general information on synthetic biology for the general public, in-depth offerings for public policy professionals, and motivational information on opportunities in higher education for K-12 students.
• Synthetic biology in the social context: A unique function of SynBERC is its examination of the emerging field of synthetic biology within a frame of human practices, with reciprocal emphasis on ways that economic, political, and cultural forces may condition the development of synthetic biology and on ways that synthetic biology may significantly inform human security, health, and welfare through the new objects that it brings into the world.

Specific aims

• to develop a conceptual framework for designing small biological components (parts) that can be assembled into devices that will perform a well-characterized function under specified conditions
  
  
• to develop a small number of chassis (stable, robust bacterial hosts with known responses) to host the engineered devices and to assemble several devices to accomplish a larger vision or goal
  
  
• to develop a set of standards for the interactions of the parts and devices so that the devices can be built more readily and reproducibly
  
  
• to offer the parts, devices, and chassis as open source to other researchers and companies.

SynBERC is a program of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3). A partnership between the state of California, private industry, venture capital, and the University of California campuses at Berkeley, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz, QB3 is developing effective new solutions to the world's most urgent biomedical problems through multidisciplinary research, innovative educational programs, and industrial and venture capital partnerships.