Reconstituting Biology 2020

Deadline for registration of the online meeting is 23 June 2020

The physical workshop has been rescheduled to 28 June - 2 july 2021

Recent advances have made the goals of bottom-up synthetic biology – culminating in the promise of a minimal cell – more tangible than ever. The excitement about the progress has led to the formation of large national research consortia, such as the Dutch Zwaartekracht programme BaSyC, MaxSynBio (a large German research consortium mainly within the Max Planck Society) and most recently a grant program dedicated to ‘Building a Synthetic Cell’ at the National Science Foundation in the US.

Some years into all these research endeavours, it has become clear that the goals set out by all these programmes remain highly ambitious, despite the progress that has been made and the scientific knowledge that has emerged. Therefore, this workshop aims to critically reflect on the achievements and to map future research directions and visions, en or even off-route to a synthetic cell.

In this virtual edition of “Reconstituting biology - charting the way to minimal cells”, we want to take the opportunity of this special format to connect junior and senior researchers working in this area, from both sides of the Atlantic, during three days with two hours of short talks and discussion sessions. The virtual meeting rooms will be active for an additional hour after the program has finished to allow for exchange and continued discussions between the participants.

On the first day, we will do some virtual introductions (which is why you have to send a slide to introduce yourselves and your science to sign up for the workshop), followed by a discussion on connecting the community and sharing knowledge beyond conferences and publications. On the second day, we organise a 'mini-symposium' on current research and future perspectives in reconstituting biology, and conclude on the third day with some more virtual discussion sessions on how we can understand what we create, and some (virtual) room for meeting and chatting with the other participants.

If you would like to join this workshop, don’t hesitate to register before 23 June 2020 (participant numbers will be limited to ensure productive discussions)!

Example slides 

The physical workshop has been rescheduled to 28 June – 2 July 2021