OpenPlant ERASynBio Summer School in New Phytologist

New Phytologist have published a report on the OpenPlant ERASynBio Summer School in plant synthetic biology authored by Nicola Patron, Colette Matthewman and collaborators at BBSRC.

European science policy is reflecting the increasing importance of synthetic biology as a tool to drive cutting-edge scientific developments. Significant strategic investment has been made, coordinated by the European Research Area Network for synthetic biology (ERASynBio), to ensure European synthetic biology research is coherent and world-leading. Strategies to achieve this include providing high-quality training for the next generation of synthetic biologists, and fostering international collaborations across a range of disciplines (ERASynBio, 2014). To realize these aims, ERASynBio has funded annual summer schools to bring together early career researchers from across ERASynBio partner countries for world-class synthetic biology training and networking. The second of these summer schools, which ran on 14–20 September 2014 at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK, was designed to provide the participants with ‘An introduction to synthetic biology in plant systems’ in conjunction with OpenPlant, a collaborative plant-focussed Synthetic Biology Research Centre linking the University of Cambridge, John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory.

‘… an invaluable and enjoyable opportunity for early career researchers to learn from and engage with world-leading experts in plant synthetic biology.’

Read more via New Phytologist
Carmichael, R. E., Boyce, A., Matthewman, C., & Patron, N. J. (2015). An introduction to synthetic biology in plant systems. New Phytologist, 208(1), 20-22. DOI: 10.1111/nph.13433

OpenPlant at the UK Synthetic Biology 2015 Conference

Three OpenPlant group leaders spoke at the recent UK Synthetic Biology Conference:

Nicola Patron (The Sainsbury Laboratory)
Development and Application of Standards for Plant Synthetic Biology

Anne Osbourn (John Innes Centre)
Making new molecules

Alison Smith (University of Cambridge)
Using synthetic biology approaches to allow predictable metabolic engineering in algae

The full conference schedule can be found here and there are plans for a 2016 conference in Edinburgh with more involvement from PhD students and postdocs. You can see some highlights from #SBUK2015 below!

OpenPlant ERASynBio Summer School in New Phytologist

New Phytologist have published a report on the OpenPlant ERASynBio Summer School in plant synthetic biology authored by Nicola Patron, Colette Matthewman and collaborators at BBSRC.

European science policy is reflecting the increasing importance of synthetic biology as a tool to drive cutting-edge scientific developments. Significant strategic investment has been made, coordinated by the European Research Area Network for synthetic biology (ERASynBio), to ensure European synthetic biology research is coherent and world-leading. Strategies to achieve this include providing high-quality training for the next generation of synthetic biologists, and fostering international collaborations across a range of disciplines (ERASynBio, 2014). To realize these aims, ERASynBio has funded annual summer schools to bring together early career researchers from across ERASynBio partner countries for world-class synthetic biology training and networking. The second of these summer schools, which ran on 14–20 September 2014 at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK, was designed to provide the participants with ‘An introduction to synthetic biology in plant systems’ in conjunction with OpenPlant, a collaborative plant-focussed Synthetic Biology Research Centre linking the University of Cambridge, John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory.

‘… an invaluable and enjoyable opportunity for early career researchers to learn from and engage with world-leading experts in plant synthetic biology.’

Read more via New Phytologist Carmichael, R. E., Boyce, A., Matthewman, C., & Patron, N. J. (2015). An introduction to synthetic biology in plant systems. New Phytologist, 208(1), 20-22. DOI: 10.1111/nph.13433

Plant Methods Thematic Series on Gene Editing

The sponsor of the upcoming CRISPR workshop, Plant Methods, is inviting submissions to its new thematic series on Plant Genome Editing.

The series is being launched in conjunction with the GARNet-OpenPlant CRISPR-Cas Workshop to be held at the JIC Norwich on 7-8 September 2015.

The exciting field of genome editing is advancing rapidly and precise genome editing techniques have already become an important tool for both fundamental research and plant biotechnology.

The thematic series, which will include invited reviews by Holger Puchta (Karlsruher Institut für Technologie), Sandeep Kumar (Dow AgroSciences) and Carolyn Lawrence-Dill (Iowa State University), will cover all aspects of genome editing technologies as applied to plant research (both for crop plants and model organisms). GARNet will also collaborate with Nicola Patron to produce a commentary article from the CRISPR workshop.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Alternative methods for targeted genome editing (including CRISPR-Cas and zinc finger nickases)

• New technologies for synthetic biology

• Computational tools for genome editing

Manuscripts in the categories of Review, Methodology, Research Article, Software or Databases will be considered.

Find out more via GARNet

Job: Lectureship in Synthetic Biology

The Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology and Interdisciplinary Computing and Complex BioSystems (ICOS) research group are recruiting a tenured track Lectureship/Senior Lectureship (Assistant or Associate Professor in the American system) in

Synthetic Biology/Nanotechnology. Early applications are encouraged.

For informal enquires please contact the CSBB director, Professor Natalio Krasnogor.

Read more details about and how to apply for this exciting post.

Algae Biotech Experience at Cambridge

On the 25^th of July, fifteen 6^th form students selected from sevens schools across East Anglia were invited to spend the day at University of Cambridge to learn about algae research and biotechnology. The event was hosted by PhD students Anthony Riseley, Dept of Biochemistry and Johan Ulrich Kudahl, Dept of Plant Sciences and with support from the Biochemical Society, Dept. of Biochemistry and the Marie Curie training network, Photo.Comm.

The Algae Biotech Experience (ABE) was an event which aimed to:

1. Engage the students into the importance and relevance of microbiology in the 21^st century;
2. Challenge the students to conducting real scientific experiments and molecular techniques such as PCR and phycobilisome extractions and;
3. Help the students to discover the importance of algae science in our daily life and its relevance to helping solve problems such as the energy crisis and food security.

The day included wet lab practicals (PCR, phycobilisome extractions), computational projects (bioinformatics/protein structure visualisation), a lecture from a Cambridge scientist, a lab tour and microscopy of various algae species.

OpenPlant at the UK Synthetic Biology 2015 Conference

Three OpenPlant group leaders spoke at the recent UK Synthetic Biology Conference: Nicola Patron (The Sainsbury Laboratory) Development and Application of Standards for Plant Synthetic Biology

Anne Osbourn (John Innes Centre) Making new molecules

Alison Smith (University of Cambridge) Using synthetic biology approaches to allow predictable metabolic engineering in algae

The full conference schedule can be found here and there are plans for a 2016 conference in Edinburgh with more involvement from PhD students and postdocs. You can see some highlights from #SBUK2015 below!

OpenPlant Forum 2015: blog by Dr Colette Matthewman

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A number of events took place in Cambridge as part of Cambridge Open Technology Week. At the heart of the activities was the OpenPlant Forum a two-day meeting bringing together experts from a range of sectors to discuss developing open technologies for plant synthetic biology.

What was remarkable about the Forum was the strikingly varied and multi-disciplinary agenda covering intellectual property, policy and regulation, responsible research and innovation and open science as well as an excellent scientific programme.

The first day of the Forum focussed on foundational technologies that facilitate exchange and freedom to operate in research environments. The second day concentrated on application of these technologies to trait engineering, and open source routes to innovation and industry.

In between talks, Dr Jenni Rant showcased outputs from Science Art Writing (SAW) Trust synthetic biology public engagement workshops, including a Marchantia themed game.

Kicking off events, Tom Knight, a computer engineer now widely considered the ‘father of synthetic biology’, talked about how synthetic biology aims to make an engineering discipline of biology. He commented that “biologists tend to like complexity, while engineers like it simple”.

Dr Nicola Patron described her recent efforts with OpenPlant and the international community, to bring together a common standard for the assembly of plant DNA parts. Many of the scientific talks described DNA parts collections for gene regulation or for producing high value chemicals in plants.

Professor Anne Osbourn highlighted the value of genetic and chemical diversity in plants, explaining for example that plant P450 enzymes can achieve things that test-tube chemistry can’t. Further examples were seen in talks by Dr Yang Zhang and Dr Stephanie Brown who are exploiting this plant natural diversity for production of heath promoting and anti-cancer compounds in tomato and yeast.

Openness was a running theme across the two days with social scientist Dr Jane Calvert emphasizing how open biology, open innovation and opening up are all critical to the future of synthetic biology. Professor Chas Bountra talked about his ground-breaking work in novel drug discovery, explaining that drug discovery is too expensive, risky and slow, and open science and pooling of resources can speed up research and share the risks. Dr Linda Kahl outlined the need for new legal tools to improve freedom to operate for researchers in both academia and industry, and her work to create an Open Material Transfer Agreement in collaboration with OpenPlant.

Next year the OpenPlant Forum comes to the Norwich Research Park, from 25 – 27 July 2016.

OpenPlant is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Source: OpenPlant Forum 2015: blog by Dr Colette Matthewman