The University of California, Berkeley has taken the leadership role in establishing SynBERC. UCB has investigators established in the area of synthetic biology, including J. Christopher Anderson (foundational technologies and applications for synthetic biology), Adam Arkin (computational biology and design), Carlos Bustamante (part characterization), Jay Keasling (device development and metabolic pathway engineering), and Susan Marqusee (part/protein design). Dr. Keasling serves as the SynBERC Director, and Susan Marqusee is the SynBERC Education Director. 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the recognized leader in synthetic biology.  Investigators at MIT have established much of the underpinnings for synthetic biology. Investigators from MIT include Drew Endy (part and device design, education), Thomas Knight (part and chassis design, education), Kristala Jones Prather (device design and metabolic pathway engineering), and Randy Rettberg (synthetic biology education).

The University of California, San Francisco is a SynBERC core partner in the San Francisco Bay Area. UCSF has investigators established in the area of synthetic biology, including Tanja Kortemme (part and device design), Wendell Lim (part and device engineering), and Chris Voigt (device and chassis engineering).

Harvard University is a SynBERC core partner in the Boston area. Harvard’s George Church is an established leader in chassis engineering and characterization.

Prairie View A&M University, a historically Black university, is participating as an outreach affiliate and will be an active participant in the research, outreach, and education activities. Two PVAMU investigators have experience in synthetic biology: Raul Cuero (chassis engineering) and Michael Gyamerah (chassis engineering). 

The California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) is 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 biological problems through multidisciplinary research, innovative educational programs, and industrial and venture capital partnerships. Stimulating new multidisciplinary fields such as synthetic biology is one of QB3’s prime objectives. At UC Berkeley, QB3 spearheaded the SynBERC effort and administers the center.