2017 Future Symposium on Building a Synthetic Cell
Event date(s):
12/07/2017
13/07/2017
14/07/2017
Location: Ringberg Castle, Germany
A three-day Future Symposium about the challenges and opportunities of building a synthetic cell
The symposium brought together top researchers in the synthetic cell field, as well as politicians, ethicists and representatives of funding bodies, scientific academies, and industry, paving the way for an even more widely supported European effort to build a living cell from lifeless molecular components using a bottom-up approach.
During the symposium, three Nobel Laureates declared their enthusiasm and support for the collaborative project: Jean-Marie Lehn, Jack Szostak, and Ada Yonath. For a comprehensive list of attendees of the Future Symposium, please click here.
The symposium was initiated and organized by scientists from the University of Oxford, UK (Prof. Hagan Bayley), the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Germany (Prof. Petra Schwille), and the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, the Netherlands (Profs. Cees Dekker and Marileen Dogterom).
Aim of the symposium
This forward-looking symposium aimed at exploring the scientific challenges, technological opportunities, and societal impact of one of the grand fundamental challenges of modern science – building a synthetic cell. It consisted of a scientific workshop including a 1-day consultation with high-level policymakers, science academies and EC commission representatives.
The meeting assembled Europe’s top scientists, including Nobel Prize Laureates, to explore one of the most exciting outstanding challenges in the life sciences: to build a functioning synthetic cell from individual molecular components. This endeavour will open up a new scientific field, uncover the foundational constituent elements of living systems, and advance entirely new application areas in biotechnology and health.
A major research effort on synthetic cells would provide a unique opportunity to position Europe as a world leader in synthetic biology. Discussions have been initiated to start a European flagship on the development of synthetic cells, see also our vision document. Indeed, this is a flagship-worthy challenge. Together with leading science policymakers, we discussed the opportunities for Europe to take a lead in this new interdisciplinary area of science.
Programme
Wednesday 12 July
| Morning | Arrival to MPIB, light snacks and buffet lunch |
|---|---|
| 12:00 | Departure with bus to Castle |
| 14:20 | Welcome and introduction to the scope of the workshop (Petra Schwille, Cees Dekker, Marileen Dogterom and Hagan Bayley) |
Constructing life top-down and bottom-up (chair Cees Dekker)
| 14:25 | Drew Endy (Stanford University) – Synthetic biology |
|---|---|
| 14:50 | John Glass (J. Craig Venter Institute) – Design, synthesis and analysis of a synthetic minimal bacterial cell |
| 15:15 | Petra Schwille (MPI for Biochemistry) – How simple could life be? |
| 15:40 | Coffee break |
Large-scale Minimal Cell Initiatives in Europe (chair Petra Schwille)
| 16:00 | Eberhard Bodenschatz (Max Planck Society) – The Max Planck wide network MaxSynBio |
|---|---|
| 16:20 | Marileen Dogterom (Delft University of Technology) – The Dutch network BaSyC |
| 16:40 | Dek Woolfson (University of Bristol) – The BrisSynBio initiative |
| 17:00 | Break, check-in |
Origins of life and astrobiology (chair Philipp Holliger)
| 17:30 | Pascale Ehrenfreund (German Aerospace Center DLR) – Tracing the key steps in the origin of life: astrobiology and synthetic cells |
|---|---|
| 17:55 | John Sutherland (Medical Research Council) – The origin of life and synthetic biology |
| 18:15 | Mary Voytek (NASA) – Synthetic Biology and the Search for Life Beyond Earth |
| 18:40 | Break |
| 19:00 | Dinner |
Thursday 13 July
What to learn from Synthetic Cells? (chair Gijsje Koenderink)
| 8:30 | Cees Dekker (Delft University of Technology) – Towards synthetic cell division |
|---|---|
| 8:50 | Joachim Spatz (MPI for Medical Research) – Sequential bottom-up assembly of synthetic cells |
Nobel Laureate Forum 1: Challenges and perspectives (chair Marileen Dogterom)
| 9:10 | Jack Szostak (Harvard University) – Why make synthetic cells? |
|---|---|
| 9:40 | Ada Yonath (Weizmann Institute) – An unreplaceable prebiotic apparatus is functioning in every living cell |
| 10:10 | Coffee break |
Perspective of Private Agencies on Synthetic Biology (chair Hagan Bayley)
| 10:40 | Pavel Dutow (VW Foundation) – Life? – A fresh scientific approach to the basic principles of life |
|---|---|
| 10:55 | Julian Huppert (Cambridge) – How might a moderately technically literate policy maker think about a synthetic cell? |
| 11:10 | Christopher Martin (Kavli Foundation) – Launching the International Brain Initiative: A Case Study |
National Funding Agencies and Politics Forum: A larger view on Synthetic Biology (chair Petra Schwille)
| 11:25 | Panel discussion with Marjolein Robijn (NWO), Alfred Pühler (Leopoldina), Anke Becker (DFG) and Patrick Rose (ONR) |
|---|---|
| 12:30 | Lunch Break |
Research Policy and Funding in the EU: Keynote talks by EU directorates (chair Cees Dekker)
| 14.00 | Aymard de Touzalin (European Commission) – Addressing grand S&T challenges: state of play of FET research in H2020 |
|---|---|
| 14.30 | Philippe Cupers (European Commission) – European health research: challenges and priorities |
| 15:00 | Coffee break |
Nobel Laureate Forum 2: Challenges and perspectives (chair Erwin Frey)
| 15:30 | John Walker (Cambridge University) – participation to be confirmed |
|---|---|
| 16:00 | Jean-Marie Lehn (Université de Strasbourg) – From supramolecular chemistry towards adaptive chemistry |
Current and future applications of synthetic cell research (chair Wilhelm Huck)
| 17:00 | Tobias Erb (MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology Marburg) – Carbon dioxide fixation with synthetic cells |
|---|---|
| 17:20 | Hagan Bayley (University of Oxford) – Synthetic tissues from printed droplet networks |
| 17:40 | Roel Bovenberg (DSM/University of Groningen) – Synthetic biology from an industrial perspective |
| 18:00 | Plenary discussion |
| 19:00 | Bavarian dinner with original style live music |
Friday 14 July
Fundamental problems and technical challenges (chair Joachim Spatz)
| 8:30 | Bert Poolman (University of Groningen) – A synthetic metabolic network for cell volume regulation |
|---|---|
| 8:50 | Daniel Müller (ETH Zürich) – Engineering molecular factories and cellular systems towards health control |
| 9:10 | Damien Baigl (Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris) – Challenges with and in synthetic cells: a soft matter perspective |
| 9:30 | Sheref Mansy (University of Trento/CIBIO) – Fundamental problems and technical challenges to the construction of synthetic cells |
| 9:50 | Coffee break, checkout |
Philosophical, societal and ethical aspects and challenges (chair Bert Poolman)
| 10:30 | Peter Millican (University of Oxford) – Title TBA |
|---|---|
| 11:05 | Peter Dabrock (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg/German Ethics Council) – In science we trust!?! SB and its challenges at the interface of science and society |
Wrap-up, summary and next steps
| 11:30 | Plenary discussion with brief observations by Schwille, Dekker and Bayley |
|---|---|
| 12:15 | Lunch and departure |
Supported by:
Practical information
Participants
The symposium was by invitation only, with about 45 selected participants: Europe’s leading scientists, Nobel prize laureates, science policymakers, presidents Royal Societies, and EC commission representatives. The list of invitees can be found here.
Venue
Date
July 12-14, 2017
July 13 is focused on the perspective of European policymakers.
Initiators and organizing committee
Prof. Hagan Bayley, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
E: hagan.bayley@chem.ox.ac.uk
Prof. Cees Dekker, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, TU Delft, Netherlands
E: c.dekker@tudelft.nl
Prof. Marileen Dogterom, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, TU Delft, Netherlands
E: m.dogterom@tudelft.nl
Prof. Petra Schwille, Max-Planck Institute Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany
E: schwille@biochem.mpg.de
Symposium whitepaper
The symposium whitepaper ‘The Ultimate Challenge of Synthetic Biology’ can be found here.
Attendees
| Function/affiliation | Function/affiliation |
|---|---|
| Damien Baigl | Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris |
| Hagan Bayley | University of Oxford |
| Anke Becker | Philipps-University Marburg |
| Eberhard Bodenschatz | Max Planck Society |
| Roel Bovenberg | DSM |
| Philippe Cupers | European Commission |
| Peter Dabrock | University of Erlangen |
| Christophe Danelon | Delft University of Technology |
| Cees Dekker | Delft University of Technology |
| Marileen Dogterom | Delft University of Technology |
| Pavel Dutow | Volkswagen Foundation |
| Pascale Ehrenfreund | German Aerospace Center |
| Drew Endy | Stanford University |
| Tobias Erb | Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology Marburg |
| Erwin Frey | Ludwig-Maximillians Universität München |
| John Glass | Craig Venter Institute |
| Philipp Holliger | MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Cambridge |
| Wilhelm Huck | Radboud University |
| Julian Huppert | Jesus College Intellectual Forum Cambridge |
| Gijsje Koenderink | FOM institute AMOLF Amsterdam |
| Jean-Marie Lehn | Université de Strasbourg (Nobel Prize 1987) |
| Sheref Mansy | University of Trento |
| Christopher Martin | The Kavli Foundation |
| Peter Millican | University of Oxford |
| Daniel Müller | ETH Zürich D-BSSE Basel |
| Bert Poolman | University of Groningen |
| Alfred Pühler | German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina |
| Mariolein Robijn | Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research |
| Patrick Rose | Office of Naval Research |
| Petra Schwille | Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry Martinsried |
| Joachim Spatz | Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems Stüttgart |
| John Sutherland | MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Cambridge |
| Jack Szostak | Harvard University (Nobel Prize 2009) |
| Aymard de Touzalin | European Commission |
| Mary Voytek | NASA Astrobiology Program |
| Sir John Walker | Cambridge University (Nobel Prize 1997) – participation to be confirmed |
| Dek Woolfson | University of Bristol |
| Ada Yonath | Weizmann Institute (Nobel Prize 2009) |