Philosophy and Synthetic Biology: the BrisSynBio Experiment

Building a community to engineer synthetic cells and organelles from the bottom-up

“…It further needs an unbiased and creative mind with a strong interdisciplinary background to successfully integrate aspects of physics, chemistry, biology, and the information sciences. Similar to fields that explore artificial intelligence and neuromorphic computing ( Valeri et al, 2020 ), students attracted to synthetic cell research often share enthusiasm and interests that go beyond their primary disciplines, incorporating aspects of philosophy and cognition within their research (e.g., the 'Synthetic Biology, Politics and Philosophy' workshop held at BrisSynBio Meacham and Prado Casanova, 2020 ). This cross-fertilization provides unique opportunities for attracting young researchers into the field of engineering synthetic cells and organelles (see Box 1 and Box 2 in Supplementary file 1 for selected quotations from young researchers who participated in the SynCell2021 Workshop).…”

In Times of Crisis

“…Though the impacts of the crisis unfortunately left me no time to write an editorial for the April issue, you may have already noted that it featured a fascinating special section guest-edited by Darian Meacham and Miguel Prado Casanova . For a detailed discussion of its topic—synthetic biology at the intersections of biology, philosophy, art and public engagement with science—it is my pleasure to refer you to their excellent introduction to the special section [ 3 ]. The latter includes a wonderful ‘Art-Science Interaction’ piece by Maria Fannin , Katy Connor , David Roden and Darian Meacham , a brilliant philosophical discussion of the ethics and ontology of synthetic biology by Lewis Coyne , and a rich and beautiful analysis of machine metaphors in discourse on synthetic biology by Nora Vaage , an in-depth piece that likewise interacts closely with art.…”