The EUSynBioS Symposium 2020
Since 2016 EUSynBioS has been organizing yearly symposia in different European countries, with the objective of disseminating the field of Synthetic Biology and gathering the European community. This year, we partnered up with the European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB), which organizes Applied Synthetic Biology in Europe, one of the biggest conferences in Synthetic Biology happening in Europe, this year at its 5th edition (ASBE V). Originally, the meeting was supposed to be held in the university town Delft in The Netherlands, but as for many other conferences, we were forced to hold the meeting online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Nevertheless, a great programme and high participation numbers made the event a full success. The EUSynBioS symposium kicked off with an introduction by our president, Huseyin Tas, who presented EUSynBioS’ goals and activities before giving an overview of the two upcoming live sessions of the symposium.
The first discussion panel was moderated by our vice-president Adam Amara, and revolved around the synthetic biology startup world, with the title “How and when to start a company”. Members of the panel included successful entrepreneurs Linda Dijkshoorn (CEO of EV Biotech), Federico Muffatto (CEO of Digi.Bio), Nethaji Gallage (CEO & co-founder of Octarine) and Cyrille Pauthenier (Co-founder of Abolis Biotechnology).
From top left to bottom right: Nethaji Gallage, Federico Muffatto, Adam Amara, Linda Dijkshoorn and Cyrille Pauthenier in the panel discussion on entrepreneurship in synthetic biology at the EUSynBioS Symposium 2020.
From top left to bottom right: Nethaji Gallage, Federico Muffatto, Adam Amara, Linda Dijkshoorn and Cyrille Pauthenier in the panel discussion on entrepreneurship in synthetic biology at the EUSynBioS Symposium 2020.
From top left to bottom right: Nethaji Gallage, Federico Muffatto, Adam Amara, Linda Dijkshoorn and Cyrille Pauthenier in the panel discussion on entrepreneurship in synthetic biology at the EUSynBioS Symposium 2020.
The speakers first presented their companies, involved in strain engineering for industrial biotechnological purposes (EV Biotech, Abolis Biotechnology and Octarine) or automation of liquid handling applications (Digi.Bio). Afterwards, live questions from the audience were redirected to the speakers. Overall, the speakers shared their experiences in starting a new biotech company. Different personal experiences showed us that the process can vary substantially from case to case: from quickly adapting the company to the demands of the market, to sticking to the initial objective of the company; from embracing venture capital investors from the beginning, to obtaining initial funding through customer contracts.
In the second discussion panel, moderated by our steering committee member Daniela Garcia-Soriano, we invited four experienced members of the academic synthetic biology community to give their perspective on where the field will be in the close future. The panel included Tom Ellis (Imperial College London), Louise Horsfall (Edinburgh University), Mark Güell (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) and Dora Tang (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics Dresden). Also in this case, questions from the audience steered the discussion.
It was generally agreed that synthetic biology has matured significantly in the past years and has reached a point beyond the “hype”. However, this does not mean that the future of synthetic biology is less brighter now. The panelists stressed the importance of synthetic biology in promising fields such as therapeutics, food science and data storage, and along with this, the growing benefits from increasing automation and use of robotics. Education was also discussed. It should be consistently solid, interdisciplinary and inclusive in order to keep the high standards and maintain the current pace of development in the future, too. Eventually, the panel discussion finished with the personal visions of the speakers on the future of synthetic biology.
From top left to bottom right: Louise Horsfall, Tom Ellis, Daniela Garcia-Soriano and Marc Güell together with Dora Tang (not visible on the screenshot) discussing the near future of synthetic biology during the second panel discussion of the EUSynB…
From top left to bottom right: Louise Horsfall, Tom Ellis, Daniela Garcia-Soriano and Marc Güell together with Dora Tang (not visible on the screenshot) discussing the near future of synthetic biology during the second panel discussion of the EUSynB…
From top left to bottom right: Louise Horsfall, Tom Ellis, Daniela Garcia-Soriano and Marc Güell together with Dora Tang (not visible on the screenshot) discussing the near future of synthetic biology during the second panel discussion of the EUSynBioS Symposium 2020.
After our symposium concluded, ASBE V took over with two and a half more days of lectures, talks and discussions showing how active the European synthetic biology research community remains and in fact, how promising the future of this field is.
The symposium was supported financially by Doulix, ACS Synthetic Biology and Inscripta Inc. In this regard, Inscripta Inc. presented its Onyx™ platform in a virtual sponsor booth and took questions from the audience. We thank all the sponsors for their support and trust in EUSynBioS. Also, we thank the EFB for their collaboration in organizing ASBE V as a joint event with EUSynBioS.
We are now looking forward to next year’s EUSynBioS symposium, which will hopefully take place in person again. Thank you for participating and being part of the community. Stay safe and see you soon!