New Directions in Synthetic Biology

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in the UK (EPSRC), through the IDEAS Factory Program, and the National Science Foundation in the US (NSF) invite expressions of interest to participate in an interactive workshop (Sandpit) to be held at Airlie Conference Center in Warrenton, VA (USA) from 30 March to 3 April 2009.
The aim of the sandpit is to stimulate thinking in promising new, or currently underdeveloped, areas of synthetic biology.
The EPSRC and the NSF plan to allocate up to £5.5M (as of the exchange rate on 4 November 2008), pending the availability of funds, to support genuinely novel and potentially transformative research arising from the sandpit.

Participants will be expected to engage constructively in dialogue with each other, the facilitators, and the Directors and Mentors to develop collaborative research proposals.
UK Research Councils have utilised successfully the sandpit mechanism for a number of high profile strategic partnerships with industry and HM Government Departments.

Given the current state of knowledge in this area, transformative progress demands an innovative and multidisciplinary approach. Consequently, the aim of this sandpit is to bring together researchers to create an integrated vision for future research, both those already working on synthetic biology, and others whose research could directly contribute.

The UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has been consulted about the IDEAS Factory Sandpit and will provide advice where appropriate, as well as attending the sandpit. For more information, visit the http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/callsforproposals/jointsyntheticbiology.htm