Conference: An International Conference on Engineering Synthetic Cells and Organelles

The International Conference on Engineering Synthetic Cells and Organelles, SynCell 2023, will be held in Minneapolis, MN on May 22-24, 2023. The conference focuses on synthetic biology, establishes the state-of-the-art of synthetic cell technology, and identifies grand challenges and opportunities for future work in this field. It features world leaders in synthetic cell technology from premier US and international universities and national laboratories. The meeting addresses the mission of NSF, which has been increasingly committed to integrating the engineering sciences with the life sciences, encouraging research and development in multidisciplinary areas, educating the next generation of young scientists, and supporting cutting edge science to answer current and future challenges as well as making sure US-based scientists are globally engaged. Topics of the conference will focus on development of foundational technologies for creating synthetic cells. The conference will hold sessions on five topics over 2.5 days in a single-track format. The topics will be (1) cell-free translation systems; (2) education, outreach, ethics, and biosafety; (3) containers and cytoskeletons; (4) metabolism, gene replication, membrane synthesis, ribosome assembly; (5) synthetic cell applications in medicine and manufacturing; and (6) minimal cells as a living chassis. The conference proceedings, and companion white papers, will be published. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.