Synthetic biology is growing rapidly and a lot of focus is going into how exciting research can be realized commercially in order to industrialize biology. Much of the continued growth of synthetic biology and its applications comes from continued collaboration amongst Research Councils, academics and industry players. Commitment on all fronts is allowing research in synthetic biology to be taken up by industry in the form of innovative tools, products, processes and services across many areas including energy, agriculture and healthcare.SynbiCITE is one of the key accelerators of this movement toward bridging the gap between research in synthetic biology and its commercialization. It is a pioneering Innovation Knowledge Centre, based at Imperial College London, that develops networks across academia and industry. It provides funding, training and various resources to groups and individuals that will continue to grow and commercialize the emerging field. The most recent example of the training courses is Lean Launchpad 2015, an intensive 11-week course that a select number of groups embarked on to obtain real world experience in translating their research into a viable startup. This is the first time that Lean Launchpad, hailing from the bay area, has been tailored to synthetic biology. The course will culminate next week at the SynBioBeta London Conference, where the top 3 teams will present. SynbiCITE, created in 2013, is funded by EPSRC, BBSRC and Innovate UK, and is a collaboration of an ever-growing list of academic and industry partners including Microsoft Research Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline R&D Ltd and universities from across the UK.SynbiCITE is led by Imperial College London Professors Paul Freemont, from the Department of Life Sciences, and Richard Kitney, from the Department of Bioengineering, with Dr Stephen Chambers as CEO. I caught up with Professor Paul Freemont to discuss all things synthetic biology and SynbiCITE related.

What changes have you noticed in synthetic biology over the last 5 years?

People are realizing the potential of synthetic biology through the delivery of enabling foundational technologies that are accelerating the field. These technologies are things like design tools, computational tools, that allow people to design biological systems. There has been progress in developing high throughput characterization platforms and DNA assembly technology, where people are beginning to develop rapid methodology that allows you to assemble synthetic pieces of DNA. So that has really taken off and the other big acceleration is in genome editing technologies.

What is SynbiCITE doing to enhance the public's understanding of synthetic biology and the impact it can have on society?

One of our biggest activities that would relate to this area is the development of a code of practice for responsible research and innovation (RRI). It has been taken on by some of the funding agencies, both in Europe and the UK, particularly the EPSRC as a way of addressing this issue by bringing in a process where researchers are continually thinking about the impact of their work on society.SynbiCITE works closely with scientists at Kings College London, particularly Professor Nikolas Rose, a leading social scientist in ethics and bioethics. In a sense this RRI is a feedback loop, we are pioneering this is in terms of synthetic biology and more broadly in how responsible research and innovation can be integrated into a commercialization strategy.

What else does SynbiCITE do in order to achieve its goal of promoting the adoption and use of synthetic biology by industry?

SynbiCITE has proof of concept projects, we offer up to £50,000 for proposals that have commercialization potential. We also have larger projects with up to £500,000 from SynbiCITE and these are partnered with industry and will take proof of concept to the next level of commercialization.We also have the Foundry, which will provide infrastructure for DNA testing, verification and characterization of various genetic circuits. The Foundry is open to companies, startups and academics. We invite a lot of startups within the Foundry to showcase their new technologies, which can give good exposure to the community and to the network.

Can you tell me about the different training courses you offer?

There is Lean Launchpad, which is a very exciting development, the course has come out of the bay area from Steve Blank and Jerry Engle. We also have LEAP, the synthetic biology Leadership Excellence Accelerator Program. The idea behind LEAP is to bring together a selected bunch of younger people in the community and help them become the next leaders in the field of synthetic biology. We are working closely with Megan Palmer who developed this when she was at Berkeley. LEAP is an amazing program as it opens up all sorts of doors very early on for some very clever and good people.We also have an iGEM hub that we are hoping to develop. The iGEM competition is very important, it is one of the major educational tools in synthetic biology. A lot of great ideas come out of it as well as the next generation of leaders.

Talking about funding, how much have you received so far?

SynbiCITE has received around £24m, which is a combination of partner funding from universities, industry and Research Councils. The EPSRC has partnered with other Research Councils and has pioneered this as a way of encouraging and accelerating technology translation. They have a lot of connectivity with industry and have been very successful with this translation.

Can you sum up what changes you hope to see in synthetic biology in the next 5 years and beyond?

I think it’s got to be on the automation and acceleration of the enabling technologies. We want to free up the synthetic biologists, researchers and people interested in it. What we don’t want them to do is to be spending 12 hours a day in a lab pipetting and things like that. So what we now need to do is to move this into either automated systems or partially automated systems. We need standardized metrology, good measurements, reproducibility and robustness because the ultimate aim of synthetic biology actually is industrialization.That’s one side. On the other side, synthetic biology will also open up opportunities to understand biological systems. This will allow for the development of a whole set of tools that will help blue sky researchers into new areas of biological research. This is what I am hoping will happen in the next 5 years and I absolutely think it will.