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. Read more

If you would like to join this workshop, don’t hesitate to register before all spots are filled (participant numbers will be limited to ensure productive discussions)!