Dear SynBio enthusiasts,

in three days' time, the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity will come together in Cancun, Mexico for their 13th conference (COP13). In parallel,  Meetings of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CP-MOP8) and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing (NP-MOP2) will take place.

At this event, an internationally agreed operational definition of synthetic biology shall be finalized, with wide implications for the nascent discipline’s future regulation. Related key decisions to be made include the status of digital DNA sequence information in scope of the Nagoya Protocol’s Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS) rules, and the extent of Socio-Economic, Cultural, and Ethical considerations (SECE) being encouraged as key part of research efforts. We feel that it is imperative for the next generation of young scientists to have a voice in these decisions.

The CBD Secretariat has kindly admitted EUSynBioS as an Observer organization to this event, which gives you, the EUSynBioS community, a unique opportunity to have a voice. Even though Observers have no formal right to vote, the opinion of the next generation of synthetic biology researchers does count, and will on site be communicated in collaboration with partner organizations such as the Public Research & Regulation Initiative.

I would hence like to invite you to share your opinion, your suggestions, and concerns related to the Cancun negotiations with us. You can do so either via our twitter channel @EUSynBioS, or directly by email to sc@eusynbios.org.

You can also follow the official webcast here.

We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Christian, on behalf of the EUSynBioS Steering Committee