Event listing
Future environmental applications and implications of synthetic biology
Event on 30 April 2013. Foresight Action Network’s Spring meeting on the Future Environmental Applications and Implications of Synthetic Biology was hosted by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology and sponsored by the Natural Environment Research Council. Synthetic biology aims to design and build new biological parts and systems, or to modify existing ones, to carry out novel tasks. According to the Government Office for Science, “synthetic biology has the potential to drive industry, research and employment in the life sciences in a way that could rival the development of the computer industry”. It encompasses a range of developing technologies from the redesign of bacteria to the potential creation of new species. It already offers potential for cheaper ways of producing known chemicals and drugs and may evolve further in fields such as food production, energy generation, land and water decontamination, new materials and structures and even information processing.