SynBERC’s vision is to develop the foundational understanding and technologies to build biological components and assemble them into integrated systems to accomplish many particular tasks; to train a new cadre of engineers who will specialize in synthetic biology; and to educate the public about the benefits and potential risks of synthetic biology. In essense, we want to make biology easier to engineer.

SynBERC brings together many of the pioneers (biologists and engineers from world-class institutions) of synthetic biology to work together to lay the foundation for this nascent field. We believe that synthetic biology will transform the field of biology into an engineering discipline by introducing into biology the concepts developed in other fields of engineering: ready access to off-the-shelf parts and devices with standard connections; a substrate onto which one can assemble the parts and devices and a power supply for the devices; standards for the basic components to enable their ready integration into a larger functional system; and open-source availability of parts, devices, and chassis. These developments will make the engineering of biology easier and more predictable. More about the field of synthetic biology ->

Three planes

Broader impacts of SynBERC

• Industry: As catalyzed by SynBERC, synthetic biology promises to transform the biotechnology, high-technology, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries, as well as suppliers of genetic tools and custom DNA synthesis companies through its relationships with industry in synthetic biology-related fields.
• Education and training: SynBERC will educate a new cadre of synthetic biologists and biological engineers capable of designing biological parts and useful biological systems. SynBERC’s education program will provide general information on synthetic biology for the general public, in-depth offerings for public policy professionals, and motivational information on opportunities in higher education for K-12 students.
• Synthetic biology in a social context: A unique function of SynBERC is its examination of the emerging field of synthetic biology within a frame of human practices, with reciprocal emphasis on ways that economic, political, and cultural forces may condition the development of synthetic biology and on ways that synthetic biology may significantly inform human security, health, and welfare through the new objects that it brings into the world.

SynBERC is a program of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3). 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 biomedical problems through multidisciplinary research, innovative educational programs, and industrial and venture capital partnerships.

SynBERC is a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center. The Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) are a group of interdisciplinary centers located at universities all across the United States, each in close partnership with industry. Each ERC provides an environment in which academe and industry can collaborate in pursuing strategic advances in complex engineered systems and systems-level technologies that have the potential to spawn whole new industries or to radically transform the product lines, processing technologies, or service delivery methodologies of current industries.