Team:Heidelberg/Practices
What is synthetic biology?
We first asked several renowned synthetic biologists and then other scientists not working in the field
"We synthetic biologists are excited by the great opportunities this new field brings about, but..."
What can synthetic biology do for us?
"...politicians or philosophers warn us about the risks we are running and argue that society must be protected."
Then we discussed about the impact of synthetic biology on our societies with philosophers, politicians, ethicists, citizens .. and the rest of the world
We then went to the streets and asked the lay public what local problems they wished synthetic biology could solve for them
"Yet, people in the street have a lot to ask to synthetic biology! They'd like it to finally solve their local problems in new environmentally-friendly ways."
How did we empower synthetic biology?
"People asking synthetic biologists to solve the great challenges of our societies are unaware of the technical details behind it. It is our job to advance basic research to develop new methods and techniques."
Useful synthetic biology applications need empowering technologies and ever new foundational advances
Asking others for advice is a great action. We therefore confronted our ideas with many experts in the fields we worked on
"It is always very helpful to see things from a different perspective. Other scientists can offer great insights and make your work advance faster!"