SynbiCITE is the UK's national Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC) for the adoption and use of

synthetic biology Synthetic biology (SynBio) is a multidisciplinary area of research that seeks to create new biological parts, devices, and systems, or to redesign systems that are already found in nature. It is a branch of science that encompasses a broad ran ...

by industry. It also helps to incubate new businesses by providing them with space and accelerator programs, including funding, training and mentoring.

History

SynbiCITE was created in 2013 after a UK-wide competition to find the most suitable host university with the best strategic plan. Initially funded by the government and other partners for five years, the organization was intended to become

self-sustaining Self-sustainability and self-sufficiency are overlapping states of being in which a person or organization needs little or no help from, or interaction with, others. Self-sufficiency entails the self being enough (to fulfill needs), and a self-s ...

by 2018. In April 2016, SynbiCITE opened the Synthetic

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

Foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

, a

Research Councils UK Research Councils UK, sometimes known as RCUK, was a non-departmental public body which coordinated science policy in the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2018. It was an umbrella organisation that coordinated the seven separate research councils tha ...

-funded facility providing remote gene design, construction, and validation services using

laboratory robotics Laboratory robotics is the act of using robots in biology, chemistry or engineering labs. For example, pharmaceutical companies employ robots to move biological or chemical samples around to synthesize novel chemical entities or to test pharmace ...

. Based on a similar facility at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...

, it is the first commercial facility in the United Kingdom using laboratory automation to provide on-demand services specifically for synthetic biology. In 2019, the DNA Foundry opened at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

's White City Campus. Its goal is to enable businesses to outsource DNA manufacture, design, and testing and accelerate the development of DNA-based technologies in the UK. SynbiCITE also supported the development of

OpenCell OpenCell is a laboratory in London. Laboratories OpenCell is primarily used for work related to biochemical and biomolecular activities such as DNA sequencing. It opened to the public in June 2018. The space uses shipping containers to house biot ...

, which provides affordable biotechnology labs using shipping containers in White City.

Organisation

SynbiCITE is headquartered at Imperial College London. It is funded by a public-private partnership between the EPSRC, BBSRC, and Innovate UK, as well as several industrial and private investors. It is run and managed by a board consisting of two co-directors (Professor Richard Kitney and Professor Paul Freemont).

References

{{Coord, 51, 29, 58, N, 0, 10, 32, W, display=title Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Genetic engineering in the United Kingdom Organisations associated with Imperial College London Laboratories in the United Kingdom Synthetic biology