Jay Keasling and Drew Endy were selected from among the world’s top researchers in nanoscience, physics, biology, materials science, and engineering to participate in the Kavli Futures Symposium held in Ilulissat, Greenland in June 2007. The symposium’s purpose was to bring top researchers together to share their expertise and brainstorm on the new field of synthetic biology. At the conclusion of the symposium, participants signed a two-page statement calling for an international effort to advance synthetic biology that would not only propel research, but do so while developing protective measures against accidents and abuses of synthetic biology. “The early twenty-first century is a time of tremendous promise and tremendous peril.” the two-page statement says. It calls for an international effort to advance synthetic biology that would not only propel research, but also develop protective measures against accidents and abuses of synthetic biology.