New Phytologist have published a report on the OpenPlant ERASynBio Summer School in plant synthetic biology authored by Nicola Patron, Colette Matthewman and collaborators at BBSRC.
European science policy is reflecting the increasing importance of synthetic biology as a tool to drive cutting-edge scientific developments. Significant strategic investment has been made, coordinated by the European Research Area Network for synthetic biology (ERASynBio), to ensure European synthetic biology research is coherent and world-leading. Strategies to achieve this include providing high-quality training for the next generation of synthetic biologists, and fostering international collaborations across a range of disciplines (ERASynBio, 2014). To realize these aims, ERASynBio has funded annual summer schools to bring together early career researchers from across ERASynBio partner countries for world-class synthetic biology training and networking. The second of these summer schools, which ran on 14–20 September 2014 at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK, was designed to provide the participants with ‘An introduction to synthetic biology in plant systems’ in conjunction with OpenPlant, a collaborative plant-focussed Synthetic Biology Research Centre linking the University of Cambridge, John Innes Centre and The Sainsbury Laboratory.
‘… an invaluable and enjoyable opportunity for early career researchers to learn from and engage with world-leading experts in plant synthetic biology.’
Read more via New Phytologist
Carmichael, R. E., Boyce, A., Matthewman, C., & Patron, N. J. (2015). An introduction to synthetic biology in plant systems. New Phytologist, 208(1), 20-22. DOI: 10.1111/nph.13433