“SynBERC’s Student Leadership Council (SLC) has established an excellent, inclusive organization which works well across the laboratories and disciplines of the Center.  Students utilize tools such as web cams and video conferencing to maintain communications among the laboratories. The SLC is providing leadership to the ERC on the issues of biological risk, ethics, and safety and plans to expand that leadership to the larger community.”--from the NSF Site Visit Team’s 2009 Site Report.

Kevin SolomonThe emergence of an organized and active core of student leaders is a significant development at SynBERC over the past year. Three graduate students, Jonathan Goler (Berkeley, Keasling Lab), Julie Norville (Knight Lab, MIT), Kevin Solomon (Prather Lab, MIT) joined forces in fall 2008 to draft an organizational plan, create new bylaws, and articulate a compelling vision for the group: to facilitate communication and exchange between SynBERC’s labs and research thrusts. Throughout the fall and winter they met regularly, set up an SLC Google Group to facilitate communication, and recruited a handful of grad students and postdocs to oversee and run the SLC’s educational outreach, professional development and collaboration/teambuilding thrusts.

Julie NorvilleBy year’s end, the group had rolled out an impressive number of programs and events: a new Journal Club, a student exchange program, an annual student retreat, a resume bank and book, organized tours of local companies, and a variety of educational outreach initiatives. The NSF site team was particularly impressed by the interest and knowledge students demonstrated in the realm of ethics and policy through engagement with DIYbio, iGEM, and the new website Ars Synthetica.

Reid Williams (Lim Lab, UCSF) and Alyssa Rosenblum (Bustamante Lab, Berkeley) have recently signed Jonathan Goleron to the SLC’s executive committee and will lead its West Coast activities. The group is planning a number of activities at SynBERC’s September 09 retreat, including a presentation and Q&A, a student lunch and info session, an evening mixer/social event, and a company tour.

SLC Membership is open to all interested students at SynBERC campuses, and students will have the opportunity to join during the retreat. The goal is to have at least one member from every lab. At this writing, the SLC Google Group has 39 active members; those who wish to be added to the group can do so at http://groups.google.com/group/synberc-slc.