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Synthetic Biology in the UK: Roadmap Landscape
Trends & drivers

2012
Social and ethicalTechnological

Short term

2015

2015

Satisfying public concerns

Ethical framework for SB establishedTechnology and ICT capability grows

Environmental
Political & legal

2020

Long term

2030

Increasing public recognition of value

Addressing new disease threats tohuman, animal and plant health
Need to reduce healthcare costs

Materials security, costs and scarcity
Land use decisions e.g. food or fuels

Food security

Oil security, costs and scarcity

Global adoption of standards
Genuine market pull for product exists

Channels to market
Value chain
perspectives

Informed policy for SB

Climate change/green technologies

Economic

2020

Embedding synthetic biology in otherareas of bioscience

Many disciplines combining

Consumers/users
Disruptive products start to appear

Channels to market developed

Increased high value applications in commercial use
Reduced development time to market

Existing (big) industry

Adoption & scale-up by large industries

Technology cos/start-ups

Need to attract investment

Science base

Increasing numbers of SMEs & spin-outs drive innovation

Successful growth of SMEs

Strengthened UK science basedeveloping new applications

Innovation with academia

Regulation & approval

Public Funding

Competition

UK R&D recognised as leading edge

Stable regulatory framework
UK sxcels in target
applications

EnergyValues creation opportunities

Medium term

Added-value of SB approach
Increasingly apparent

Microbial fuel cells/bio-hydrogen

Environment

International competition

Bioenergy/biofuels (energy
from microbial cell factories)
Waste stream mining

Water security: improved access to clean drinking
water, including desalination

Bioremediation

Food processing

Beneficial novel crops e.g. N-fixing cereals or perennial
wheat gain acceptance

Health & medicine

Healthcare & medicines: drugs, therapies, vaccines

Personalised medicines and drugs

Materials
Manufacturing processes

Algal/bacterial/micro-organisms –manufacturing processes

Biocatalysts developed and in use

Conversion of existing and new
biomass feedstocks

Sensors

Bio-sensors

ICT

Novel high-value software
solutions for SB

Bio-CAD / Bio-parts companies

ChemicalHigh value chemicals:surfactants, flavours, cosmetics, catalysts

Enabling

Speciality chemicals

Bulk chemicals

New chassis and industrial strains

Bioparts & other enabling tools

Other

Capability/technology

Bio parts, devices & systems
Design methods and tools

Analytical methods

High-throughput screening

Synthesis techniques

Computation, modelling & data

Sequencing

Proteomics

Repositories: bio-parts,
databases, construction rules
Bioinformatics

Demonstration

Metabolic models & pathways

Fully integrated bio, chem,engineering and other approaches

Systems biology

Demonstration facilities

Moving into eurkaryotes
Biosecurity
Readily available scale-up facilities

Low-cost, accessible R&D consumables

People & skills

Strenghtened skills base (incl.
chemistry & biochemistry)

Research

Good bioformatics backed up withbiochemistry
Boost research investment

Regulation, approval & ethics

Seed funding

International Standards

Public engagement & education

Public engagement & education

Facilities & infrastructure

Scale-up/scale-out processes

Interdisciplinary graduate training &careers

Acceptance by public of SB as the norm

Multidisciplinary research & research
centres

The UK as the best place to carry out
R&D in SB

Spin-outs backed by angels / VC

Increased funding streams for commercialisation

Sensible regulatory framework
Uncontroversial visible early products

Self-sustaining invetsment from industry

IP framework for commercialisation

Government awareness ofopportunities and development needs

DNA synthesis infrastructure: public
sector or commercial

Supply chain
Networks & collaborations

Synthetic genomes

Engineering/computational modelling

Risk m’gmt, safety & bio-security

Funding & investment

DNA synthesis technologies

Genomics

Other

Enablers

Improved deconvoluted cellular control systems

DNA synthesis techniques

Analysis techniques
Underpinning (bio/chem/eng)

Usable databases of information forimproved design

More, targeted, hosts/chassis

Establish a UK entrepreneurial culture

Big industry take-up at scale

Investment in large-scale facilities
Operational supply chain

Active, developed, funded SB network

Encourage industry / SME / Spinout – academic links

Cross sector collaboration (virtual
clusters/knowledge centres)Contents
Foreword.......................................................................................................03
Executive summary......................................................................................04
Introduction.................................................................................................. 06
Global trends and the role of synthetic biology...........................................07
UK strengths................................................................................................ 09
Synthetic biology......................................................................................... 12
A technology roadmap.................................................................................14
Themes.........................................................................................................16
Theme 1: Foundational science and engineering.......................................17
Theme 2: Continuing responsible research and innovation .......................19
Theme 3: Developing technology for commercial use................................22
Theme 4: Applications and markets............................................................25
Theme 5: International cooperation.............................................................27
Realising the vision.......................................................................................30
Recommendations.......................................................................................31
Membership of the UK Synthetic Biology
Roadmap Coordination Group.....................................................................34

Published by Technology Strategy Board on behalf of UK Synthetic Biology Roadmap Coordination Group

Technology Strategy Board
Driving Innovation

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Foreword
The excellence of the UK researchcommunity provides an opportunity for
future economic growth. Deriving
significant benefits also relies on the abilityof business to develop products andservices and on the expectation of a
sizeable global market. The Technology
Strategy Board highlighted synthetic
biology as an emerging technology
meeting all these key criteria and offering
particularly strong growth potential in the
UK. A coordination group was formed
towards the end of 2011 to chart a suitable
way forward.
The capacity of synthetic biology todevelop useful applications has only
become a practical option in recent years.
Progress over the past decade has been
driven by a combination of factors, notleast an ever deepening understanding of
biological systems and remarkableadvances in the efficiency of DNA
sequencing and synthesis. Specificapplications are already emerging, but its
long-term potential remains largely
untapped. The sharing of understanding
across the constituent biological andengineering disciplines, pooling ofexpertise and resources, anticipation ofcritical challenges and the enthusiastic
commitment of all stakeholders will
significantly enhance our capacity tobenefit. Synthetic biology has the potential
to increase prosperity and address someof the major challenges facing our planet– but much work needs to be done, and it
has to be done responsibly.

Engaging the synthetic biology community
in shaping this roadmap has also
contributed a first step towards its
realisation, through making newconnections and building a shared vision.
Further initiatives, such as the recent
formation of a special interest group, willcontinue to stimulate interest and facilitate
cooperation. This roadmap is not a one-off
long-term plan towards a fixed point. It
provides a compass-bearing for thecommunity, helping to align interests
towards future growth opportunities whilst
identifying the resources and standards
needed to accelerate progress in the
shorter term.
As an independent panel we set out toreflect a representative view drawn fromacross the UK community. We believe wehave achieved this, but we also recognise
the need for ongoing and broadening
engagement to complement what has
been possible within the practical and time
constraints of this exercise. Cooperation
on an international scale will also help
determine success. We have outlined afirst step in the journey and see aleadership council helping to manage theongoing process.
I have been impressed and delighted at
the interest, energy and enthusiasm shownby those who have contributed to thisroadmap and I thank them all. In particular,
members of the coordination group who
have worked tirelessly for six months topull together and structure all the material.

Lionel Clarke
Chairman
UK Synthetic Biology Roadmap
Coordination Group
July 2012

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 03

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Executive summary
This publication sets out a shared synthetic
biology roadmap for the UK pulled
together by an independent panel ofexperts at the request of the Department
for Business Innovation and Skills (BiS).
Synthetic biology is the design andengineering of biologically based parts,
novel devices and systems as well as theredesign of existing, natural biologicalsystems. It has the potential to deliver
important new applications and improveexisting industrial processes – resulting ineconomic growth and job creation.
It is a rapidly developing technology
applicable to a wide range of biologicalsystems, and has developed over the last
decade due to the confluence of a numberof factors. It could help to solve a numberof major global challenges including in thefields of healthcare, energy and theenvironment.
The UK was amongst the first to recognise
and respond to the opportunities raised bysynthetic biology. Publicly-funded academic
Our vision is of a UK synthetic
biology sector that is:• economically vibrant, diverse andsustainable: where businesses havesuccessfully developed andintroduced new products, processes
and services – leading to significant
revenues and employment• cutting edge: leading scientificadvances and with a resilient
platform of underpinningtechnologies – delivering clear
advantages in application
development• of clear public benefit: an exemplar
of responsible innovation,
incorporating the views of a range ofstakeholders and addressing global
societal and environmental
challenges within an effective,
appropriate and responsive
regulatory framework.

studies coupled with meaningful publicdialogue have established the foundations
upon which the sector is now being built.
Multidisciplinary expertise is alreadyenabling the UK to make significant
contributions to international research
programmes, and also to assimilate andrespond to global developments as theyarise.
Our goal is to build upon these foundations,
identifying and stimulating initiatives thatwill help companies develop new products,
processes and services of clear publicbenefit, and generate economic growthand create jobs. Applications could
include biosensors to identify infections
and diseases and trigger localised drugdelivery; more personalised medicines,
tailored to an individual’s specificrequirements; improved waste treatments
and bioremediation; and more costeffective routes to renewable chemicals,
materials and fuels, leading ultimately
towards more efficient solar energy
conversion and storage as envisaged via
artificial photosynthesis. A recent
assessment by BCC research on behalf ofGlobal Information Inc concluded that thevalue of the global synthetic biology
market will grow from $1.6bn in 2011 to$10.8bn by 2016.
Synthetic biology is still at an early stage ofdevelopment and relatively unproven, but
its potential is widely considered to be veryhigh. It is a platform and translational
technology linking a broad range offoundational science with an extensive
range of possible applications, somealready progressing towards market.
Research is moving fast, but developing
specific processes to commercial scale
will invariably take time and encounter new
challenges. This roadmap takes a holistic
view of the innovation process, toanticipate issues and facilitate progressionof applications and services towards theultimate goal of realising a clear vision for
a UK synthetic biology sector.

04 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP

Five core themes for the roadmap
emerged from this work. They were:• foundational science andengineering: the need for sufficientcapabilities for the UK to maintain aleading edge
• continuing responsible researchand innovation: including the need forawareness, training and adherence toregulatory frameworks• developing technology forcommercial use• applications and markets: identifying
growth markets and developing
applications• international cooperation.
An essential first stage is the building of acohesive stakeholder community including
academics, industrialists, public andprivate organisations. Workshops held todate have already begun this process,helping to shape the vision. Energising thisgrowing community around the vision,
supported as needed through effective
resourcing and training, will stimulate thedevelopment of applications of significant
value.
To accelerate the contribution synthetic
biology could make towards a vibranteconomy, it will be necessary to build
upon the many factors that make the UK
an excellent location to progress synthetic
biology, whilst identifying and reducing thecommonly encountered stumbling-blocks
anticipated along the pathway tocommercially viable products andservices, particularly on behalf of smallerand start-up companies that may otherwise
lack sufficient capacity or finance.
A number of factors may enhance theprobability of success of a given venture,for example, being clearer on what is
possible, understanding earlier in theprocess what is needed, gaining access toa wider range of resources including
relevant training and advice, having more
effective mechanisms to share ideas andA synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

The UK is an excellent place toprogress synthetic biology because
it has:• a healthy ecosystem for new andestablished businesses (UK ranked*
in the top 5% of countries for ‘easeof doing business’)• a strong academic base in synthetic
biology, linked to a very strong
innovative culture and heritage
across the life sciences, engineeringand physical sciences• a strong and internationally networked
industrial base in application areas
for synthetic biology• agile and responsive funding agencies• proportionate and robust regulatory
frameworks that are internationallyrecognised and well regarded• strong UK Government support.
*World Bank Survey 2011

best practice across the community andhaving access to a wider network ofpotential partners and sources of public
and private funding.
Initiatives have already been taken in the
UK to establish a multidisciplinary
community, supported via dedicatededucational programmes and facilities,
including the establishment of a Centre forSynthetic Biology and Innovation. But
more must be done to nurture andadvance these foundations if the UK is toretain its relatively strong and innovative
position on the global stage.
Our recommendations, summarised right,
therefore seek to strengthen, stimulate andbetter integrate knowledge-generation
within the UK academic research basewhilst simultaneously developing routes tocommercialisation. Demonstrating aconsistent, long-term commitment, basedaround a clearly stated and broadly
supported vision will be very important inensuring the stability needed to attract

ongoing investments and in assistingalignment of core research interests.
Synthetic biology in the UK operates within
the existing regulatory framework androutinely takes account of social andethical issues. Nevertheless, we highlightthe need to continue practising
responsible research and innovation at allstages. To ensure that practitioners
continue to be fully aware of potential
issues, and that regulatory frameworks
remain current with leading-edge
developments, it will be important tomaintain effective ‘open-door’mechanisms for dialogue. These, in turn,will inform, and be informed by, ongoing
formal national policy and international
regulatory review mechanisms.
Considering these various needs, werecommend a package of measures thatshould support and develop the UK-wide
research and industrial communities byenhancing the availability of essential
resources and information.
Specifically, we recommend the creationof a network of multidisciplinary centres,
including a dedicated innovation andknowledge centre (IKC), to both strengthen
and expand our foundational and appliedresearch base and facilitate businessexploitation. These should all be based
within existing higher-education
institutions. Investment plans for earlystage and larger demonstrator projects
and for feasibility studies should also bemade in the near future to facilitate
industrial applications of the technology.
A variety of mechanisms should be
introduced via the Technology Strategy
Board, research councils and others as
appropriate, to extend the UK-wide
synthetic biology community. Suchmechanisms may include the formation ofan overarching network for synthetic
biology – through the formation of a
special interest group (SIG), holding anannual forum and funding competitions to
support the development of novel

Recommendations
1. Invest in a network ofmultidisciplinary centres to establish
an outstanding UK synthetic biology
resource
2. Build a skilled, energised andwell-funded UK-wide synthetic
biology community
3. Invest to accelerate technology
responsibly to market
4. Assume a leading international role
5. Establish a leadership council

applications. Forming a coherent,energised synthetic biology community
should stimulate an innovative ‘can do’culture and create an environment
conducive to attracting inward investment.
It should also facilitate increased levels ofinteraction between the research communityand other stakeholders including the public.
Realising the vision for synthetic biology
should allow the UK to make a positive
contribution to the global response tochallenges in areas such as health and theenvironment. In this way, the UK may
reasonably seek to build on its current
strengths and assume a leading internationalrole in synthetic biology, helping to set
standards and shape future regulations.
This may be achieved through a variety ofmechanisms, such as participating intrans-national grant funding, hosting
international conferences and continuing
to foster coordinated efforts in synthetic
biology through research partnerships.
Finally, a leadership council should be set
up to own and oversee continual
development and delivery of the vision.
This will provide a focal structure forassessing progress and updating
recommendations and priorities within theroadmap.

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 05

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Introduction
Industry, academia, governmentorganisations, funders and others
have joined forces to produce aroadmap for the formation of aworld-leading synthetic biology sector
in the UK. Synthetic biology could
help to tackle major global challenges
in areas such as healthcare, energy
and the environment and is alreadystarting to deliver high-quality jobs.
Synthetic biology’s contribution to
the knowledge-based bio-economy(and the wider economy) is predicted
to grow increasingly in the short,medium and long term.
The UK was amongst the first to recognise
and respond to the opportunities raised bysynthetic biology. Publicly-funded
academic studies, coupled withmeaningful public dialogue, haveestablished the foundations upon which
the sector is now being built.
Multidisciplinary expertise is alreadyenabling the UK to make significant
contributions to international research
programmes and to assimilate andrespond to global developments. Our goal
is to build upon these foundations,stimulate a vibrant innovation culture within
the UK and lead towards the delivery of
products and services of clear economic
and public benefit.

This publication sets out a sharedroadmap for the UK drawn together by anindependent panel of experts at therequest of the Department for Business
Innovation and Skills (BIS). The vision andrecommendations for the UK grew out of aseries of workshops attended by morethan 70 people representing a broad
range of stakeholders from industry, publicbodies, academia and other organisations.
It also draws upon the large and rapidly
growing body of world literature and thenumerous conferences, symposia anddiscussion forums that have recently
focused on synthetic biology. Althoughspecifically a roadmap for the UK, working
with international stakeholders remains anessential part of implementing theroadmap (as reflected in ourrecommendations). We reviewed anumber of thematic areas in reaching a setof recommendations, which, if advanced
effectively, will establish and grow a
successful synthetic biology sector.
The definition of synthetic biology we usedis adapted from the 2009 Royal Academyof Engineering study.
Synthetic biology is the design andengineering of biologically based
parts, novel devices and systems aswell as the redesign of existing,natural biological systems. It has thepotential to deliver important new
applications and improve existing
industrial processes – resulting ineconomic growth and job creation.

06 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP

Our vision is of a UK synthetic biology
sector that is:• economically vibrant, diverse andsustainable: businesses havesuccessfully developed and introduced
new products, processes and services– leading to significant revenues andemployment• cutting edge: leading scientificadvances and with a resilient platformof underpinning technologies –delivering clear advantages inapplication development• of clear economic and publicbenefit: an exemplar of responsible
innovation, incorporating the views of arange of stakeholders and addressing
global societal and environmental
challenges within an effective,
appropriate and responsive regulatory
framework.

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Global trends and the role of synthetic biology
The world is becoming increasinglyinterconnected and the ability togenerate, share and interpret data on
a massive scale is accelerating ourability to understand highly complex
systems. The emergence of synthetic
biology as a distinct discipline throughthe first decade of this century is aclear example of this trend.
Potential applications of synthetic biology
arise wherever biological systems play arole, or could play a role in future. Fields ofincreasing interest at individual andsocietal levels include well-being (such asprediction and prevention of diseases,
personalised healthcare, improved
lifestyle, employment), security (including
food, water and energy security) andsustainability (meeting the challenges ofmanaging natural resources, reducing
dependence on non-renewable resources
and finding ways to mitigate climatechange). Objectives for envisaged
synthetic biology applications in thesefields include reduction in costs, extended

or novel functionality and greater
selectivity. However, as an emerging
platform technology, the potential forsynthetic biology to develop valuableapplications in areas as yet unconsideredremains a significant future possibility.
Addressing these fields of interest andother global challenges will continue togenerate a wealth of potential applications.
There are no unique solutions to these
global challenges – the issues arecomplex and changing, and effective
responses will require a combination ofscientific, technological and political
options. Nevertheless, as strategies formaintaining or improving quality of life andthe environment play out within an
expanding global population, we expect
the ongoing development of biologicalsystems to play an important role in the
global quest for solutions and to provide
an expanding channel for relevant
applications of synthetic biology.

Synthetic biology is still at an early stage ofdevelopment and relatively unproven, but
its potential is widely considered to begreat (and from some perspectives
revolutionary). It is a platform technology
with an extensive range of possible
applications, a few of which are alreadyprogressing towards market, with manyothers under consideration.
It can take many years to develop
technologically robust, safe andcommercially viable solutions, yet theneed for effective solutions to social andenvironmental challenges is increasingly
urgent. This roadmap anticipates some of
the mechanisms and resources we needto consider now in order to better respondto emerging opportunities and challenges.
It is too early to assess the full extent towhich synthetic biology will address thesechallenges over the longer term.
Nevertheless, the relevant global markets
are substantial and growing. For example,
biopharmaceuticals (pharmaceuticals

Global needs with links to synthetic biology

Population

Quality of Life

Well - being

Environment

Security• Predict/ prevent diseases• Food• Personalised healthcare• Water• Employment• Energy

Sustainability• Manage natural resources• Reduced dependence on
non-renewable sources• Climate change mitigation

Figure 1: No unique solution can fully address the material needs of a growing global population, but technology developments inthe biological sciences can play a role in responding responsibly to the underlying needs for security, sustainability and well-being.
This in turn provides a number of channels where synthetic biology may make potentially significant long-term contributions.

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 07

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

derived using biotechnology) are now
estimated to be around 20% of all
medicines, effectively double what they
were a decade ago. As synthetic biology
starts to play an increasing role inmedicines and healthcare, it is becoming
possible to assess the global scale of the
future market, at least in the near future.
Other established markets provide further
benchmarks for potential application – forexample, it is estimated that 2010 revenues
from industrial biotechnology in the US
alone were approximately $100bn1. It isalso estimated that P5bn may be added to
the European bio-economy by 2025 fromongoing research activities2.
Such assessments depend greatly on theassumptions used, not least the definitionof synthetic biology itself and what is, or isnot, appropriate to include in the definitionof the market sector. One of the mostcomprehensive assessments available isthat by BCC Research on behalf of Global
Information Inc. By surveying data
available from leading companies, life
science research institutions, thought
leaders and numerous secondary
sources, they compile an assessment of
global applications and forecast sales
revenues over the coming five-year period.
They conclude that the value of the global
synthetic biology market will grow at a
substantial rate, from $1.6bn in 2011 to$10.8bn by 2016. In the longer term,
synthetic biology also has the potential todeliver into new, as yet undiscovered,markets in response to emerging futureneeds. Regardless of the accuracy ofthese estimates, there is strong evidence
from this and the indicators above that theprospects for future growth are substantial.

1B
 iodesic 2011 Bioeconomy Update: www.biodesic.com/
library/Biodesic_2011_Bioeconomy_update.pdf
2 Innovating for Sustainable Growth: A Bioeconomy for
Europe. Communication from the commission to theEuropean Parliament, the Council, the European
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of
the Regions, Brussels 13.2.2012 COM(2012) 60 final.

08 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUPA synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

UK strengths
The UK has a long tradition of worldleading intellectual activity. We have areputation for ‘punching above ourweight’, possessing world-leadinggroups that over many years haveconsistently delivered significant
breakthroughs in a wide range of
disciplines, including bioscience,engineering and ICT.
Our innovative culture is one of independentand progressive research, which has at its
heart ideas and products that challenge thestatus quo. The UK is a healthy ecosystem
for new and established businesses.
We have moderate levels of corporation
tax with ‘patent box’ arrangements
for exploiting intellectual property, andgenerous company tax breaks toencourage research and development.

We need to reduce the risks encounteredalong the pathway to commercially viable
synthetic biology products. This will beachieved through a variety of tailoredmechanisms, including a highly skilled,
flexible workforce trained by our excellent
universities and colleges. Furthermore, UK
research and development is protected
and enabled by ethical and regulatory
frameworks that are recognised aroundthe world as robust and proportionate.
Substantial government investment
underpins UK knowledge-based
innovation. Total public investment in the
research base, through the researchcouncils and the Higher Education
Funding Council for England (HEFCE),
is around £6bn a year. The Technology
Strategy Board, the UK’s innovation agency,

invests a further £350m a year helping
4,000 companies across all technology
domains and business sectors develop
new products, processes and services.
Recent UK government announcements
committed £75m for the ELIXIR research
infrastructure to handle the rapidly growing
volume of biological data from highthroughput experiments such as DNA
sequencing and £145m to improve
Britain’s e-infrastructure to drive growthand innovation. An investment of £380m
has been made by EPSRC in cutting-edge
manufacturing research with over 340
current research grants and 1100
collaborating companies. This includes a£45m recent investment in nine newCentres for Innovative Manufacturing,
all working closely with businesses to

Funding activities
BBSRC and EPSRC
prioritise synthetic
biology in responsivemode funding

BBSRC, EPSRC,
ESRC and
AHRC fundNetworks inSynthetic Biology
funded £900k

2006

2007

BBSRC
Bioscience forSociety synthetic
biology sub-panel
formedEPSRC Scienceand Innovation
Award: ICSTM
Centre for Synthetic
Biology andInnovation £4.7m

BBSRC and EPSRC
co-fund the ESF
Synthetic Biology
EUROCORES grants£2m

EPSRC and NSF
fund Synthetic
Biology Sandpit:
collaboration£6m

BBSRC funds
MRes insynthetic
biology £250k

EPSRC funds
infrastructure
platform
technology
grant £5.0m

BBSRC large strategic
grants call in 2011 &2012 includes
synthetic biology
priority (assessment inprogress)

BBSRC and NSF
fund enhancing
photosynthesis
grants £6.1m

BBSRC,EPSRC, MRC
and Dstl fund
Joint Synthetic
Biology
Initiative £2m

BBSRC funds
large strategic
grant on ‘click
chemistry’ £4.2m

TSB, BBSRC
and EPSRC
launchindustrial
feasibility call
£6.5m

EPSRC funds
leadership fellows
£2.2m

2008

2009

BBSRC-commissioned
Synthetic biology:social and ethicalchallenges published

2010

BBSRC and
EPSRC
Synthetic
Biology Dialogue

2012

2011

EPSRC and ESRCcommissioned
scoping study inresponsible
innovation published

ERA-NET insynthetic biology
launched withBBSRC as aleading partner

Policy activities
Figure 2: Funding for synthetic biology has been consistently applied by UK research councils since 2007, totalling more than
£62m ($95m) to date.
Acronyms: NSF (United States, National Science Foundation) ICSTM (Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine),
Dstl (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory), ESF (European Science Foundation), MRes (Masters in Research) and
ERA-NET (European Research Area Networks)

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 09

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

stimulate growth in a number of areas.
An investment of £250m has been madeby the BBSRC, including 26 strategicscience programmes and 14 key national
research capabilities, to meet challenges
such as sustainably feeding the growing
world population and finding alternatives
to dwindling fossil fuels. The Technology
Strategy Board is to invest £200m in seven
Catapults – a network of technology andinnovation centres. Other recently
announced investments in supporting
infrastructure include £16m in robotics(£12m from the Government to 19
universities, with a further £4m fromindustry) providing access to specialist
laboratories, equipment and expertise
across a number of sectors.
A recent study has identified that synthetic
biology research is now being funded in
40 countries via more than 500 fundingorganisations, and carried out by aresearch community comprising an
estimated 3000 researchers. The UK issecond only to the US in publication
output3. Publication output from Europe as awhole is comparable to the US. This places
the UK in a pivotal position to influenceand benefit from this internationallyexpanding field.
In terms of synthetic biology, there is avery significant presence in those sectorsthat are expected to commercialise thetechnology, especially in chemicals,
biosciences and pharmaceuticals,
advanced materials and energy. For
companies in these sectors, indeed in all
sectors, the UK is recognised as an
excellent place to do business. It was
ranked in the top 5% (7th out of 183
countries globally) for ‘ease of doing
business’ according to a World Bank 20113S
 ynthetic Biology: Mapping the Scientific Landscape;Oldham, P; Hall, S; Burton; G. (2012), PLoS ONE 7,4

survey4. According to the Chemical
Industries Association, it remained, in
2009, the number one inward investment
destination in Europe, with almost one fifthof the total accumulated stock of foreign
direct investment. In 2007/08, the UK
attracted 1,573 foreign direct investment
projects from 48 countries, a recordbreaking performance. The UK accounts
for 57% of the whole European private
equity and venture capital market5.
The UK chemical industry comprises amajor sector in the UK, with over 3,000
companies in 2009 (generating an annual
turnover of around £55bn). Growth in this
sector in recent years has been roughly
5% a year, with the UK having in excess of
8% of the world market.
The UK has one of the most dynamic andinnovative healthcare industries in theworld. It has developed over 20% of theworld’s top 100 selling medicines (second
only to the US, and more than the rest ofEurope combined). Every one of the top 10
pharmaceutical companies in the world
has a presence here. GlaxoSmithKline6
has recently committed to invest morethan £500m across its manufacturing sites
in the UK to increase production of key
active ingredients for its pharmaceuticalproducts and vaccines. Together with
AstraZeneca, these two companies alone
report a combined turnover of £42bn(approximately 9% of the global market).
In 2007, the value of UK pharmaceuticalexports was £14.6bn, bringing in a trade
surplus of £4.3bn. The pharmaceuticalsector in the UK consists of around 600
companies and employs some 67,000
people. According to the Department for
Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) 2009
R&D Scoreboard, pharmaceutical andbiotechnology R&D expenditure in the UK

UK biotechnology built on strong heritage
The UK has a strong heritage in biotechnology which underpins not only world-classacademic research, but also a vibrant biotechnology industry.
The discovery by James Watson and Francis Crick of the structure of DNA in 1953 andseminal follow-up work by Crick in 1961 that cracked the DNA-to-protein code, laid thefoundations on which all synthetic biology designs now rely. UK expertise led to thediscovery of reverse transcriptase (now an indispensible part of molecular biology) andthe development by Frederick Sanger in 1977 of a vastly improved sequencing method.
This led to huge scientific advances including the Human Genome Project.
In the 1990s, Professor Shankar Balasubramanian and Professor David Klenerman of
the University of Cambridge invented Solexa sequencing: an ultrafast method forsequencing DNA that improved cost and speed by 1,000 to 10,000 fold on previous
technologies. Solexa was sold to Illumina for $600m in 2007 and is the global market
leader in next generation sequencing. This expertise has continued to the present day.
Oxford Nanopore Technology (ONT) has developed a new sequencing technology
based on fundamental research from the University of Oxford which works by running a
strand of DNA through a tiny hole called a nanopore. Developments like these areleading to a point where DNA can be sequenced in real time, opening up exciting new
possibilities for medicine and biotechnology.

4 World Bank. Ease of doing business survey 2011.
www.doingbusiness.org/rankings
5 UKTI. Chemicals – the UK advantage. 2009.

10 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP

6 www.gsk.com/media/pressreleases/2012/2012pressrelease-994808.htm

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

in 2008 was £9.6bn. The medical
technology sector in the UK consists ofaround 2,800 companies, employing
52,000 people and generating around£10.6bn of turnover a year.
The UK clinical and health sciences
research base is second only to the US in
terms of global impact. It has provided acreative crucible for the discovery of new
medicines over many decades. The UK
has several universities that regularly
appear in the top ten of university ranking,and a strong legacy of Nobel laureates in
the areas of medicine, physiology or
chemistry. Over the last decade, UK
university bioscience departments havegenerated over 200 spin-out companies7,8.

The UK energy research community also
produces recognised high-quality research11
across a variety of energy technologies.
The Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council’s (BBSRC)
Sustainable Bioenergy Centre is a £27m
investment in bioenergy research. The
centre brings together six world-classresearch groups and 15 leading industrial
associates.

The UK also has major strengths in advanced
engineering, manufacturing and design.
The potential for synthetic biology to
produce high-tensile-strength and otheradvanced materials may well find value inapplication fields such as aeronauticalengineering.
Bioenergy accounts for 3% of total primaryenergy consumption in the UK, with the
majority (65%) being used in power
generation and contributing towards thedelivery of the UK renewables target9.
Both Royal Dutch Shell and BP havesignificant global biofuel interests, and,
together with their partnerships and joint
ventures, promote some of the world’s
largest research, development andcommercial renewable fuel programmes.
In 2010, the energy supply industry in the
UK contributed approximately 4% of GDP(£60bn), 10% of total investment, 52% ofindustrial investment, and directly
employed approximately 173,000 people10.
7R oyal Society (2010). The scientific century. Securing
our future prosperity. http://royalsociety.org/policy/
publications/2010/scientific-century/
8 Office for Life Science and UK Trade and Investment(2010). Life science. The UK: collaboration for success.
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.
uk/20110120011807/bis.ecgroup.net/publications/uktradeinvestment/uklifescience/10579.aspx
9 UK Bioenergy Strategy, 201210 UK Energy In Brief 2011, DECC.

11 Report of the International Panel for the 2010 RCUK
Review of Energy

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 11

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Synthetic biology

Synthetic biology has developed over thelast decade. The field arose from theconfluence of a number of factors. First,
the revolution in molecular biology that has
occurred over the last 60 years and inwhich the UK has played a leading role.
A significant development was DNA
sequencing, which during the 1990s andearly 2000s yielded the genome
sequences of a handful of important
species. From the standpoint of synthetic
biology, efficiency gains from nextgeneration sequencing have led toindustrial-scale enterprises with potential
to open up nature’s vast reservoir of
biological information and, with it,
identification of novel biological parts.
Coupled to this, the development of
reliable, chemically based, DNA synthesis
is allowing the alteration and constructionof DNA sequences, their use in existing
biological chassis, and the possibility ofbuilding whole genomes from scratch.
Second, the development of ourunderstanding of biological systems andhow to manipulate them is advancing at
pace through systems biology,
bimolecular sciences and related fields.
This all means that we can now attempt
the design and engineering of biologicalsystems with increased confidence andsuccess.

Cost per base of DNA sequencing and synthesis
Rob Carlson, June 2011, www.synthesis.cc
100

10
1
Cost – US Dollars

Synthetic biology is the design andengineering of biologically based
parts, novel devices and systems aswell as the re-design of existing,natural biological systems. The stepchange in the synthetic biology
approach is to engineer biologicalsystems to perform new functions in amodular, reliable and predictable way,
allowing modules to be reused indifferent contexts. It has the potential
to deliver important new applications
and improve existing industrial
processes across many sectors
including healthcare, energy,
pharmaceuticals, materials, andremediation – resulting in economic
growth and job creation.

0.1
0.01
0.001
0.00010.00001

0.000001

Cost: sequencing
Cost: short oligo
Cost: gene synthesis

0.0000001
1988

1993

1998

2003

2008

2011

Year

Figure 3: The cost of DNA sequencing has plummeted over the past two decades whilst moremodest reductions have been achieved to date in synthesis

Importantly, synthetic biology is atranslational field that takes foundational
research from a range of fields (forexample, biochemistry, systems
engineering, molecular biology, plantsciences, chemical engineering,
informatics, microbiology) and integrates
and builds upon these findings throughthe application of engineering designprinciples. This is possible because
biological systems are inherently modular

and biological function – usually expressed
through proteins and RNA – is primarily
encoded in DNA. In addition, biologicalcontrol and regulatory elements can be
defined (for example, logic gates, feedback
systems, amplifiers and oscillators). An
objective of the field is therefore to utilise
the diversity of biological parts (genomes
and metagenomics, synthetic parts/
components) to build new biologicaldevices and systems with defined function.

‘Clicking’ DNA and RNA
Professors Tom Brown (University of Southampton) and Andrew Turberfield (Universityof Oxford) are leading a collaboration developing a technique for producing DNA andRNA structures more efficiently and on a larger scale than is possible using current
enzyme-based technologies. They have ‘clicked’ DNA and RNA segments together
using a chemical method which could allow long strands of DNA to be produced inlarge amounts for industrial-scale applications. The ability to ‘click’ DNA together opens
up the possibility of producing new DNA structures decorated with a variety of usefulchemical modifications for industrial uses in the UK bioeconomy, including in clinicalapplications, for example to ‘switch-off’ disease genes.

12 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUPA synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Biosensors

Petrochemicals
Diagnostics

Therapeutics
Materials

Regenerative
medicine

Agriculture

Industrialisation and market sectors
Networks

Synthetic biology

DevicesIndustrial
synthesis

Figure 4: Synthetic biology is both a platform
technology (building a systematic basis fordesign – combining biological, engineeringand computational capabilities) and atranslational technology (providing the link
between a wide range of underpinning
disciplines – ranging from biochemistry tosystems theory – and practical applications
in a wide range of different market sectors)

Logic
control

DNA assembly

Genomeengineering

GATTATCCAGTACGTACGTDNA

Systems

Pathways

Methodology

Engineering complexity

Multi-scale systems

Underpinning Academic Disciplines
Biochemistry
melecular biology

ProteindesignDirected
evolution

The engineering concepts ofmodularisation, characterisation andstandardisation are central to the field.
Here, modularisation is defined as theprocess of breaking down a biologicalsystem into a series of well-defined,
standard parts or components (forexample, a gene, protein, a pathway, amicrobe in a culture). Characterisation is
the process of defining the behaviour andfunction of these parts in particular
contexts in order to understand how they
can be used in human-defined design.
Standardisation means that the design
process is based on well-defined standard
modules that can be interfaced to produce
a device or system. It is accepted thatinterfacing biological parts will bechallenging, and issues relating to context
dependency, predictability and robustness
will need to be tackled. The standardisationof components and processes generated
significant advances in mature engineering

Metabolicengineering

Genomics
metagenomics

Systems
biology

Systemstheorydisciplines, and a major challenge forsynthetic biology is to put biologicalsystems’ engineering on the same footing.
Synthetic biology comprises a translational
process achieved through the deploymentof platform technologies, within aframework of robust engineering principles
and practices. These platforms harness
informatics (for example, databases,
Bio-CAD software), analytical technologies(DNA synthesis and assembly,
sequencing, metabolic and proteomic
profiling) and biological technologies (forexample, host cell systems) in the processof systematic design. Another key
component of the translational process isinterplay between experiment and theory,and the application of a synthetic biology
design cycle. The cycle comprises thefollowing steps: specification, design,modelling, implementation, testing andvalidation. These approaches are central
to enabling the creation of industrial

products when integrated with newscale-up methodologies, andindustrialisation is one important end pointof synthetic biology. Another importantend point is the contribution that synthetic
biology will make to the fundamental
understanding of bioscience, which,combined with rapid and significant
developments across the related
underpinning biosciences themselves, will
stimulate further generations of industrial
products made using this approach.
Synthetic biology is now poised to have an
important industrial future in a range offields. Figure 4 illustrates how theunderpinning academic disciplines
contribute to the methodology to create
devices, networks and systems as part ofthe synthetic biology translation process.
This leads to industrial processes which, inturn, leads to products.

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 13

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

A technology roadmap
The primary purpose of thistechnology roadmap is to establish avision for synthetic biology in the UK,
and to identify the processes thatmust be applied to realise it. It
provides a framework within which toconsider future options andcoordinate actions. Because synthetic
biology is an emerging and fastdeveloping sector, the purpose of theroadmap is not to provide a detailed
project plan but, more importantly, todetermine those core elements thatneed to be put in place as a secure
platform upon which innovative
developments may build in future.
The process of generating theroadmap is itself an integral part of
opening up stakeholder discussion,
seeking consensus and starting theprocess of building an informed,
energised and effectively supported
UK-wide community.
This roadmap has been produced during
2012 by an independent panel of experts
at the request of the UK Department for
Business Innovation and Skills. It
incorporates material generated during
two UK roadmap workshops attended by
70 participants representing a broad rangeof stakeholders from industry, publicbodies, academia and other organisations.
The workshops followed a processestablished through extensive experienceby the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) in
Cambridge, ensuring substantial
engagement of all participants andgenerating a wealth of valuable material
and insights. The roadmap has also beenheavily informed by the large and rapidly
growing body of world literature and theoutputs of the numerous conferences,
symposia and discussion forums that havefocused on synthetic biology in recent years.

Fundamental to the roadmap study, as
applied in the workshops, has been theneed to consider the activity as a whole,taking an integrated overview of all key
influences upon and stages within theprocess, whilst informing the discussion
with essential details and knowledge fromexperts representing a broad crosssection of stakeholders. Our intention
throughout has been to identify early thesteps that must be taken along thejourney, to avoid delay in anticipating andresponding to the opportunities andchallenges that lie ahead, and torecognise that there are many otherstakeholders whom we would encourage
to engage in further shaping the way
forward as the community develops.

By focusing on value-chain perspectives,and considering the various processes
that apply when nurturing ideas to market,
for example, from academia through SME/
start-up companies to large industry, wewere better able to identify key needs thatshould be addressed in nurturing the
emergence of a vibrant future industry.
Important considerations identified in theworkshops included the need to be clear
what should be the main areas of focus,
recognising the need for genuine market
pull for products and for selecting key
categories in which the UK can excel, andhow to accelerate progress – reducing
development time to market –acknowledging the essential role of publicfunding.

The workshops considered the roadmap
landscape as a whole, across a range oftimeframes, stretching out towards a post
2030 vision. This was populated in detailfrom both a ‘top-down’ perspective,
considering trends and drivers, and a‘bottom-up’ perspective, considering
enablers, capabilities and technology,
leading to consideration of value-creation
opportunities and value-chain
perspectives. Key outcomes are
summarised in the A3 fold-out ‘UK
Synthetic Biology in the UK: Roadmap
Landscape’ graphic at the back of thispublication. The individual elements
captured in this diagram are not intended
to represent a comprehensive set of
activities with precise timings, but rather torepresent, through their entirety, anillustration of the broad landscape, theoptions available and the timescale thatmust be considered. It is clear thatsynthetic biology should not beapproached in a sequential, piecemeal
fashion, but as an integrated whole,addressing issues across the entire
landscape in the short term, whilst
maintaining a long-term perspective.

A wide spectrum of applications can beenvisaged, each specific application
having its own particular trajectory inscope and time, from concept through tocommercialisation. Although eachindividual application will face its own very
specific development programme issues,a number of generic success factors could
be identified from the many worked
examples we considered. By addressing
those generic factors, we can create amore broadly supportive operating
environment and facilitate progress acrossthe entire range of potential applications.

14 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP

A fundamental challenge is to reduce thedevelopment time and cost to market.
Effective links between academia andindustry are important throughout,although the balance of engagement will
shift towards industry as the concept steps
towards market deployment. Taking an
integrated approach to the whole is criticalto rapid development, but, in practice,development and scaling-up of a concept
tends to be stepwise as new challenges
emerge. This approach is captured
schematically in figure 5, opposite. There
are many different ways of clustering anddefining the various stages, but this is notcritical to the scheme. For illustration, we
consider progression through four stages,

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

namely from the initial capability(foundational and enabling science andengineering) to innovation of the concept(technology providing capability) to initialvalue creation (proof of the application)and finally to value capture (scale-up andmarket growth).
To facilitate progression within each stage,
and from one stage to the next, a numberof things need to be in place. These canbe broadly split between generics thatprovide a supportive environment –regulatory frameworks, education andskills, stakeholder participation,
multidisciplinary funding – and those thatprovide a more specifically technicalunderpinning such as availability ofdedicated resources, access to an expert
community and links between academia,
industry and government. Moreover, thecritical role of demonstration as a ratelimiting step in progressing through every
stage from the scientifically possible to thetechnologically real has been clearly
identified by the Technology Strategy
Board12. The benefits of international
cooperation apply equally to generic andtechnological issues.

Marketvalue

MARKET GROWTH:
Value capture

APPLICATIONS:
Value creation

TECHNOLOGY:
Capability
SCIENCE and
ENGINEERING:

Transparency and Stakeholder Participation – meeting significant needs, delivering benefits, addressing issues

Foundational andenablingE
ducation and Skills– fromcross-disciplinaryawareness andinterest
through to accredited
professionals
education
andskills;transparency
andstakeholder
participation

Regulatory
Frameworks and Standards– always effective
and streamlined- adapting as needed
Multidisciplinary
funding;
regulatory
frameworks;
Multi-disciplinary funding – sufficient and sustained to build technological capacity and maintain leading edge

Time
Figure 5: Facilitating progression of an idea through to market in terms of speed and likelihood of
success can be achieved by generating a more receptive and supportive operating environment
and providing access to critical resources relevant to each stage of development. The precise
requirements for any specific idea will be unique, but addressing these generic challenges will
enhance the overall synthetic biology translation process

Starting from these broad insights and thewealth of information gathered from theworkshops and other mechanisms as
outlined above, we explore in more detailthe issues and requirements arising,clustered broadly under five main themes.

12 E merging Technologies and Industries – Strategy
2010-2013, TSB February 2010. www.innovateuk.org
see under publications/strategy

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 15

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Themes
A number of recurring ideas,
observations and issues emerged that
we consider directly relevant to thegeneration of a UK roadmap forsynthetic biology. We have gathered
these into five core themes.

The fourth theme ‘applications andmarkets’ is the identification of future
growth markets and the development ofsuitable applications that would gain from
more effective interactions between theacademic and industrial communities.

The first theme ‘foundational science andengineering’ relates to the underpinningtechnological potential of synthetic biology
and the need to establish sufficient andaccessible capabilities within the UK tomaintain a leading edge.

The fifth theme we consider here is‘international cooperation’. Realising thevision for synthetic biology should allow
the UK to play a positive role in theinternational response to global challenges,
including helping to set standards andsuitable operating frameworks.

The second theme ‘continuing responsible
research and innovation’ is the recognition
that the ground-breaking opportunities
and benefits arising from synthetic biology
also come with the potential for
unintended consequences, which can be
avoided through awareness, training andadherence to prevailing regulatory
frameworks.

It will be clear that these core themes aremutually linked and must be addressedcollectively to achieve a successful outcome.

The third theme ‘developing technology forcommercial use’ recognises that it can bevery difficult to take an idea from thelaboratory environment through to a
fully-scaled industrial product or service.
Steps need to be taken to help overcome
the more challenging hurdles so thatimportant opportunities do not fail for
readily avoidable reasons.

16 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUPA synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Theme 1:

Foundational science and engineering
Synthetic biology is an emerging areaarising out of the confluence ofseveral core disciplines. It integrates
knowledge, principally from biology,
engineering and chemistry, to create
new products and processes. A
by-product of this process isincreased understanding of biologicalsystems. The UK already possesses
world-class expertise within thesecore disciplines – this provides thestrong foundation upon which
synthetic biology is being built. A
strong message that emerged from theroad mapping workshops was that
innovation in academia andmultidisciplinary confluence are key
drivers of the field.
To date, UK research funding for synthetic
biology has come principally from the
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences
Research Council (BBSRC) and theEngineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council (EPSRC). The funding
has supported community networks toinitiate research partnerships, a specialist
centre, strategic funding for technologies
and applications, and high-risk/high-reward
studies to explore potential in new areas.
International collaboration has resulted infunding to UK universities from a range ofsources including the EU, the Gates
Foundation and joint programmes with the
US National Science Foundation. These
grants are important because they establish
collaboration with other leading internationalgroups and show the quality of the UK
academic base in synthetic biology.

Multidisciplinary centres
and funding
There is a need to capitalise on theseinvestments and the research undertaken.
The UK has one funded centre in synthetic
biology at Imperial College and several
other large-scale investments also
developing platform technologies(Southampton and Oxford; Warwick) andapplications including second generation

Bacterial logic gates
Professors Richard Kitney and Martin Buck (Imperial College London) havedemonstrated that we can build ‘logic gates’, like those used for processing informationin computers and microprocessors, out of harmless gut bacteria and DNA. Logic gatesare fundamental building blocks in silicon circuitry. The researchers have replicatedthese logic gates using biological parts and showed that they behaved like theirelectronic counterparts. The new biological gates are also modular, which means thatthey can be fitted together to make different types of logic gates, paving the way formore complex biological processors to be built in the future.

biofuels (Nottingham). A recent
development is the formation of aconsortium for synthetic biology
comprising Imperial College, Cambridge,
Edinburgh and Newcastle universities andKing’s College London. This aims tofurther establish a significant infrastructure
and resource for synthetic biology within
the UK and in support of international
collaborations13. In addition to these
specific examples, there are many othersignificant groups actively engaged indirectly related research, funded byvarious research councils, industry andother funding bodies (the BBSRC andEPSRC alone support more than 30
different higher education institutions inrelated fields). For the UK to fully leverage
its capabilities as a basis for industrial
growth, it will be important to coordinate
support for synthetic biology research
centres and corresponding research
agendas that can facilitate the integrationof the UK’s research and training capability
in the field, ensure good access toleading-edge equipment and generate
more opportunities to interface with industry.
It has already been proposed that an
innovation and knowledge centre (IKC) for
synthetic biology should be established as
an important mechanism towards driving
technology towards commercialisation.
This is described in more detail in theme 3.
It is, however, essential to establish how

13 w ww.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/2012/Pages/
syntheticbiology.aspx

the hub will integrate with the research
centres – the concepts of multidisciplinary
research centres and a commercialisation
centre must be developed as an integrated
whole. Concentration of research funding
into academic centres of excellence is afeature of synthetic biology investment in
the US, China and EU. The UK centres arenecessary to build on our strong
foundations and to create bioengineered
solutions to underpin the UK bioeconomy.
Recognition of the social sciences’ andhumanities’ research effort in synthetic
biology, together with potential
applications in the biomedical arena, may
lead to an increase in strategicallycoordinated research councils’ funding.
In 2007, the UK research councils
established seven research networks insynthetic biology to bring together different
disciplines, to develop a common language
and to develop potential research projects.
The networks integrated a strong socialand ethical dimension into their activities
and involved ten universities withconsiderable researcher outreach.
The grants for the existing seven
networks have recently come to an end.
The roadmap workshops have identified
the need for continued multidisciplinary
networking activities. These include
academic-to-academic networking;academic-to-industry networking; and anumber of supporting activities. A pan-UK
network could bring together the work of
the seven previous networks under acommon umbrella. This would provide a

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 17

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

forum for the research centres, as well as
smaller research groups in other institutions,to discuss a range of topics, exchange
best practice and act as a showcase forthe presentation of work with applications
in a range of industry sectors. It isenvisaged that the network should use
traditional formats and virtual
communication, such as social
networking, to build an integrated synthetic
biology community. The plant sciences‘GARNET’ model14 provides an example ofa pan-UK network that undertakes tasks
that mirror those required in synthetic
biology. As discussed under theme 3,these networking concepts could be taken
forward by the recently formed special
interest group (SIG).

Training
The UK has been very proactive in thearea of education and training relating tosynthetic biology over a number of years.
For example, in the session on educationand training at the Fourth International
Meeting on Synthetic Biology (SB4.0), UK
universities were singled out (along withsome US universities) as leaders in thisarea. This activity has taken a number offorms. There are now a number ofprogrammes in operation. These include
undergraduate final-year options, MScs
and MRes/PhD programmes. In addition,
UK teams have been highly successful at
iGEM15 (an international undergraduate
competition) over a number of years.
There may now be a need to streamline
the existing education and training
programmes and, where appropriate, tointroduce new courses to address theindustrial translation process and, moregenerally, to meet the needs of industry.

14 See www.garnetcommunity.org.uk/
15 See http://igem.org/Main_Page

It is important to recognise that specialist
training is required to produce
professional, responsible synthetic biology
researchers. The road mapping
workshops identified the need to build,
maintain and develop the skills base andto enhance interdisciplinary graduate
training. It is also important to recognisethat synthetic biology training andeducation needs to take place at all levels– from school outreach (potentially
including more practical engagement andlearning, as for example being promoted
elsewhere via iGEM High School16) toundergraduate and postgraduate training
and beyond – and that mechanisms need
to be tailored to meet the needs of specificstudent groups. Hands-on experience ofsynthetic biology should start at theundergraduate level with taught modules
given by teams of research-active staff
with direct experience of ‘wet-lab’ biology,
engineering design and modelling, andexpertise in the ethical and societal
aspects of synthetic biology. Such courses
should attract students drawn from anumber of disciplines, for example biology,
engineering and chemistry.

16 iGEM High School is now in its second year andexpanding internationally: http://igem.org/High_School_Division

18 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP

Postgraduate training must be intrinsicallymultidisciplinary. In addition to theexperience derived from existing
programmes in synthetic biology aroundthe world, it is important to learn fromprogrammes in associated areas, forexample, systems biology. Suitablestudents should be identified to study at,or in association with, the research
centres. In this regard, it should be notedthat many of the most successful research
centres in synthetic biology around theworld have, from their inception, included
a multidisciplinary training environment.
Students should follow the one-year MRes
plus three-year research project modelthat has been very successful in a numberof areas. The approach also includes
cross-disciplinary co-supervision, together
with professional internships within UK
companies and summer schools. In
addition, students should be educated insocietal and ethical issues, andopportunities for technical andmanagement training should be explored.
Short courses for existing industrial
personnel should be envisaged.
Any course in synthetic biology will have ahigh content of engineering and physicalscience. Hence, synthetic biologists
aiming to practise in industry may benefit
from professional as well as academic
qualifications (compare chartered status inengineering). Accreditation of courses, inthis context, would be carried out by theappropriate professional institutions (forexample, the Institute of Engineering andTechnology).

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Theme 2:

Continuing responsible research and innovation
It is crucial that this technology
continues to be developed in asocially responsible fashion, and that
relevant stakeholders, regulators andthe public are engaged in researchand innovation processes from theoutset. Responsible research andinnovation encompasses, but is notconfined to, operating within an
effective risk regulatory framework.
The UK needs to be, and to be seen tobe, leading the way in frameworks andmethodologies for responsible
innovation. The UK has alreadyinitiated public dialogue in synthetic
biology and encouraged interaction
between regulators and funders.
Since synthetic biology is a new field, there
is much uncertainty surrounding both therisks and benefits of its research andapplications. While stringent risk
management is crucial for responsible
research and innovation, inescapable
uncertainty must be acknowledged andaccounted for. The aim of responsible
research and innovation is not simply to
predict and proactively manage negative
outcomes, but also to shape decisionmaking procedures that recognise such
uncertainty across the whole life cycle ofinnovation. To foster successful innovation,
governance must be flexible, transparent,
open to wider participation, andresponsive to emerging evidence andchanging social priorities.

Public acceptability
Public acceptability is widely recognised
as a crucial issue for synthetic biology, but
it cannot be adequately dealt with throughcommunication aimed at reassuring the
public. Prior public controversies on
emerging technologies demonstrate that it
is essential for debates to go beyond thecommunity of experts to open up
discussions about the purpose of innovation
and about uncertainties and complexities
surrounding both the benefits and risks
associated with particular applications.
Research has shown that ‘the public’ is nota singular pre-existing mass that accepts or
rejects particular technologies according to

fixed preconceptions. The direction taken
by innovation pathways, and their perceived
social consequences, themselves shapepublic responses. The responses anddecisions of many and varied socialgroups – alongside those of academic
researchers and firms – help to determine
technological pathways and the realisationof benefits. These include institutions
involved in health, safety and environmental
regulation, intellectual property, researchfunding, and capital investment, as well as
intended users and beneficiaries, and civilsociety groups. New social groups also
emerge alongside innovation (newpressure groups may come into being
when, for example, a new drug isdeveloped to extend the life of patientswith a specific terminal cancer). All ofthese groups need to be actively engaged,
throughout the process, in the governanceof synthetic biology research and innovation.
In the UK, public acceptability wasrecognised as crucial from an early stage
and led to a large-scale synthetic biology
dialogue in 2010. Findings from the dialogue
showed there was support for synthetic
biology but that this was conditional. While
there was great enthusiasm for the
possibilities of the science and its application,
there were also fears of control and misuseand concerns about how to govern thisnovel area when there is uncertainty overits outcomes. One of the key findings ofthe dialogue – which is consistent with alarge body of social science research –was the emergence of these five key
questions that synthetic biologists should
be willing and able to answer17:• what is the purpose?
• why do you want to do it?
• what are you going to gain from it?
• what else is it going to do?
• how do you know you are right?
17 BBSRC/EPSRC (2010) Synthetic Biology Dialogue.
Swindon, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences
Research Council (BBSRC) and the Engineering andPhysical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), p.7.
Online at: www.bbsrc.ac.uk/web/FILES/Reviews/1006synthetic-biology-dialogue.pdf
For a summary of how these same issues recurthroughout all the ScienceWise Dialogues, see Chilvers,
J and Macnaghten, P. (2011) The Future of Science
Governance: A review of public concerns, governanceand institutional response. London: Sciencewise-ERC.
Online at www.sciencewise-erc.org.uk

To build on this successful dialogue, it is
crucial that these questions are at theforefront of ongoing decisions about thecommercialisation, translation andregulation of synthetic biology. Indeed,
BBSRC, on behalf of the UK researchcouncils, posed those questions in theclosing session of the Six-Academy
Synthetic Biology Symposium II in
Shanghai in October 201118. Althoughaddressing health, environmental andsecurity risks is important, this will not in
itself lead to broad public acceptability
unless innovation in synthetic biology isdemonstrably directed towards:• new products, processes and services
that can bring clear public benefits
including, but not limited to,employment, improved quality of lifeand economic growth• solutions to compelling problems thatare more effective, safer and/or cheaper
than existing (or alternative) solutions.
Integrating social sciences, humanities
and arts researchers can help with
understanding of, and engagement with,such issues and thus foster responsible
innovation. The UK is at the forefront ofexperimenting with such cross-domain
collaborations: the seven synthetic biology
networks included social scientists, artists,
philosophers, and legal scholars; and theImperial College Centre for Synthetic
Biology and Innovation (CSynBI) was set
up as a joint centre between scientists andengineers at Imperial College and social
scientists at the BIOS research group19.

18Six Academies Synthetic Biology Symposium II– Shanghai 12 – 14 October 2011, www.sibs.ac.cn/
synbio/programme.asp
19 BIOS – a centre for Biological Sciences originally basedat the London School of Economics (LSE) and now
based in King’s College London

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 19

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Regulating synthetic biology
Building a culture of responsibility,
evaluating health and environmental risks
at all stages from the planning stage
onwards, and increasing awareness of
those risks are integral to good practice insynthetic biology research and innovationand in the subsequent development ofsynthetic biology products, processes andservices. Regulatory authorities recognisethat synthetic organisms may haveunintended harmful consequences; incertain circumstances they could transfer
DNA to other organisms, and unanticipatedinteractions between synthetic organisms
and the environment or other organisms
could cause unintended harm to theenvironment and public health. Such risks
are currently covered by relevant
conventions and legislation, and active
review processes exist to ensure theseremain informed by, and responsive to,emerging developments in synthetic
biology. Biosecurity issues also arise fromthe risk of deliberate actions intended tocause harm by people who pay no heed tolegislative regulations. Additional measures
may be required for such scenarios andthese have been seriously considered innumerous studies in recent years20,21.
At present, synthetic biology is regulated
by conventions and legislation that wasestablished to regulate the use ofgenetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Regulations for the ‘contained use’ and‘deliberate release to the environment’ of
GMOs are determined at the EU level
through directives which are thentranscribed into UK law. In the future,certain applications of synthetic biology
could conceivably entail the deliberate
release of modified organisms to the

20 N
 IH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant
DNA Molecules
21 A ddressing biosecurity concerns related to Synthetic
Biology: Report of the National Science Advisory Board
for Biosecurity (NSABB), April 2010

Public dialogue on synthetic biology
Synthetic biology has enormous potential but also raises questions around ethics,
social justice and biosecurity. In 2010, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences
Research Council (BBSRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences ResearchCouncil (EPSRC) published the results of a joint public dialogue on synthetic biology(with support from Sciencewise-ERC, the UK’s national centre for public dialogue inpolicy-making involving science and technology issues).
The dialogue explored people’s hopes and fears for synthetic biology, aiming toensure that the research funded by the two councils sits comfortably with society.
Four workshops in England, Scotland and Wales were attended by 160 members of
the public. An additional 41 interviews were carried out with consumer groups, industry
and scientists, focusing on the issues and the development of the science. The
dialogue revealed that most people are supportive of the research but with conditions
on how and why it is conducted. The results of the dialogue have influenced how
BBSRC and EPSRC think about funding research in synthetic biology.

environment. If this were to be the case,the legislation relating to the deliberate
release of GMOs would apply. Under thissystem, decisions on research trials are
made at the national level, whereas
decisions on marketing applications are
made at the EU level. Currently there aresome problems with the operation of the
EU clearance processes, and this could
act as a barrier to commercialisation ofcertain synthetic biology products. The UK
government is currently engaged in EU
negotiations with the aim of enabling more
effective operation of the current regulatory
system. The Cartagena Protocol on
Biosafety to the Convention on Biological
Diversity is an international agreement
which aims to ensure the safe handling,transport and use of living modified
organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern
biotechnology that may have adverse
effects on biological diversity, taking also
into account risks to human health22. There22 http://bch.cbd.int/protocol/

20 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP

are 163 countries party to the Cartagena
Protocol, including the UK.
Work in research laboratories involving thegenetic manipulation of organisms isrequired to comply with Contained Use
Regulations23. All persons carrying out
such work must notify the Health and
Safety Executive (HSE), and for higher risk
work must have consent before they
proceed. The controls required are basedon an assessment of the risks of potential
for harm to human health and for damage
to the environment. Any work with asubstance produced by synthetic biology
processes, which is not itself a geneticallymodified organism, but is potentiallyhazardous to human health (for example
toxic or allergenic), would require risk
assessment and appropriate controls toprotect the workers and any other persons
who might be affected24.
Regulations are kept under constantreview by the regulators, be they the HSE

23 Directive 2009/41/EC on the contained use ofgenetically modified micro-organisms; GMO(Contained Use) Regulations 2000
24 The Control of Substances Hazardous to HealthRegulations 2002.

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

or the Home Office, recognising thatscience continues to develop andregulation needs to reflect those changes.
The principles underlying current
regulations are that they:• place the protection of human healthand prevention of harm to theenvironment as the first priority• take a risk-based approach, requiring
proportionately more stringent controls
for higher hazard work
• allow novel work to be carried out,
without unduly hindering innovation, but
for GM work require that risk
assessments are reviewed and forhigher-risk work that the regulator gives
consent before the work begins.
Questions have been raised about theextent to which the risk assessment
framework for genetically modified
organisms will be appropriate for synthetic
biology (due, for example, to the larger
number of genes transferred and thepossible use of synthetic genes with nowild-type comparator)25. The current
general consensus among regulators andscientific institutions is that existing GM
regulations are broadly adequate andcould be adapted for synthetic biology, butthat regulators need to keep a watchingbrief as synthetic biology research develops.
The regulatory framework for the release ofgenetically engineered organisms remains
contested, most visibly in Europe, but also
in the United States and around the world,
albeit relating to technologies that precedeand are different from synthetic biology. Whatis contested is not so much ‘Is it risky or not?’but rather: ‘What counts as risk?’ and ‘Who
decides?’ It will be crucial, as synthetic
biology progresses, to continue developing

26 R
 odemeyer, M (2009) New Life, Old Bottles: RegulatingFirst-Generation Products of Synthetic Biology Woodrow
Wilson International Center for Scholars; Dana GV,
Kuiken T, Rejeski D, et al. Synthetic biology: Four steps
to avoid a synthetic-biology disaster. Nature 2012
483(7387): 29.

Checks and balances
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has a numberof checks and balances in place to ensure that the researchers it funds are aware ofany ethical and social issues that their research raises, and that they respond to theseappropriately. Applicants are required to consider the ethical issues raised by their
grants, for instance, the need to use animals in an experiment or the potential for
misuse. If any issues are identified by the peer reviewers or grant committees thenBBSRC can draw on a broad range of expertise via its Bioscience and Society Strategy
panel and from third parties like the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement
and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs). BBSRC will not start paying grants
until all issues have been resolved.
a robust regulatory and enforcement regime
involving scrutiny, evaluation and modificationof existing regulations to address issues
such as indirect, delayed, and cumulative
long-term effects, including accumulated
effects of approvals for different organisms;
and appraisal of risks which consider how
the technology will be used in practice, in
real-world conditions. The latter includes thepotential for ‘dual use’ at a time of increasing
global uncertainty. (Science is primarily used
to benefit humanity, but particular scientifictechnologies can be misused, presenting
scientists and others with an ethical quandary
known as the dual-use dilemma26.) It isalso essential to ensure that a broad rangeof scientific experts and other stakeholders
continue to be involved in scrutinising andcontributing to the questions asked in risk
assessments. This must include international
collaboration, which will be essential toallow the UK to realise the full benefits of
its synthetic biology sector.
In addition, in order to ensure that the spirit
and not just the letter of the legislation isfollowed, it is important that researchers
and regulators work together to ensurethat all novel entities and methods

produced through synthetic biology areencompassed by these GMO regulations,or are replaced with alternative legislation
providing appropriate risk safeguards.
In summary, responsible research andinnovation for synthetic biology requires:• that inescapable uncertainty is
acknowledged and measures are put inplace to ensure safe, rapid and effective
responses to any unforeseen problems• that the UK maintains and develops its
regulatory and enforcement regime
for environmental, health and security
risks relating to synthetic biology andthat it does so from an international
perspective• that ‘engagement’ means genuinely
giving power to a wide range of diverse
social groups, including those whowill be the end users or presumed
beneficiaries of the technologies,
taking their concerns seriously, andenabling them to participate throughout
the whole pathway of technologicaldevelopment.

26 Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology,
Postnote, July 2009, Number 340

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 21

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Theme 3:Developing technology for commercial use
In this third thematic area we consider
how to advance synthetic biology
technologies so that they are fit for use
in a broad range of potential
applications and markets. Implicit inthis activity is the desire to increase
growth in the UK economy, generating
wealth and creating jobs, consistent
with the ongoing practice of responsible
research and innovation outlined intheme 2. Below, we set out some ofthe opportunities available in the UK
to accelerate the development anduptake of this powerful technology.
The work draws on the overarchingframework of the Technology Strategy
Board’s Emerging Technologies andIndustries Strategy, other roadmaps
and literature, sector expertise andthe outputs of the two roadmapping
workshops. A key element is theiterative process of matching thecommercial requirements of a numberof potential markets to theperformance that is, or could be,achieved by the technology.
Synthetic biology is still at a relatively earlystage of emerging from the science base,but it has truly disruptive potential. Alreadyit allows some things to be done that were
not previously possible. Many more things
will follow. Even now it is beginning to offer
totally new opportunities for existing
businesses and new entrants. Below aresome of the ways in which thoseopportunities can best be realised.

Seeing the opportunity
The UK possesses outstanding expertisein its science and engineering base as wellas imaginative businesses that are bothwell established and newly formed. The
science is rapidly advancing and markets
are changing almost as quickly. This istrue, not just in the core synthetic biology
technologies, but also in the supporting
technologies such as rapid sequencing,
microfluidics and bioCAD. It can bedifficult for individuals in businesses tostay abreast of scientific developments
across the entire field and to determine
how these can be best applied to theopportunities they see in their own
organisations and markets. No individual
or group of individuals is likely to be fully
aware of all of the most promisingbusiness opportunities. An opportunity
exists, therefore, to bring those at the
cutting edge of science together with
innovators in business to find the best fit
between commercial opportunity andscientific potential, and to help them towork together to develop their ideas: toenergise the new product supply chain,and to inform the science base.

Creating the industrial
translation process
Synthetic biology is, by definition, an
applied approach. It draws on a range offundamental fields in the life sciences, as
described in the synthetic biology section
and outlined in figure 4. The industrial
translation process takes the idea througha development process from laboratory tomarket, as schematically captured in figure
5. Output from the initial science andengineering phase may take any of a wide
range of forms, such as newly characterised
bioparts within the registry, new industrial
hosts or chassis, or new assembly methods.
The next step in the translation process isthe development of the industrial
engineering methods appropriate for theapplications being developed, andultimately the development of biofactories.
All of the stages in the translation processlead through to products and, ultimately,
to market. It is essential to develop
processes whereby industrialists andacademic researchers can more
effectively collaborate to define application
projects and requirements in terms ofindustrial techniques and the market,
including societal benefits. These
collaborations are likely to be different inrelation to projects with large companies
and projects with SMEs.

22 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP

Accelerating the journey
to market
Most modern technological products andservices exist in complex, and global,
supply chains, and it takes time tointroduce and have adopted radicallydifferent propositions. Each organisation
along the chain has to evaluate the impact
a new technology may have on its
operations, and has to satisfy itself that it
can assure the quality and delivery of thecommercial offering. It has been shownthat one of the best ways to speed up thisprocess is to create ’demonstrators’ thatshow what is on offer in a compelling
way27. Helping innovating organisations to
produce demonstrators of various kinds
will advance the technology more quickly
to market. In some cases the type of
demonstration needed will bedemonstration of scale, and access to
production capability to assist scale-up
will be important. Some of the facilities
needed already exist in the UK. In othercases, demonstration will require accessto cutting-edge laboratory equipment, and
it is important that critical equipment islocated within the UK – it should be madeeasier for businesses to access theexpertise and facilities within the university
sector. This could be particularly valuable
in highly specialised areas or where a
combination of biology and electronics ormaterial sciences is used.

Reducing the commercial
and technical risk
It is a regrettable fact that new productintroductions often fail, even where theproducts themselves can deliver benefits
for consumers and have economic
potential28,29. A proven method of bringing
more products to market sooner is to help
27 Technology Strategy Board, Emerging Technologies
and Industries Strategy 2010-13 (Feb 2010)www.innovateuk.org see under publications/strategy
28 Source: Stevens, G.A. and Burley, J., 3,000 Raw Ideas= 1 Commercial Success!,(May/June 1997) ResearchTechnology Management, Vol. 40, #3, pp. 16-27.
29 Robert G Cooper, Winning at New Products, 3rd Edition,
p10-12 (Basic Books, 2001)

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

reduce the risk of technical failure, and toshare the financial risk. This can be doneby bringing people from different
organisations and with different capabilities
together to work jointly on collaborative
projects. These organisations can findbetter solutions to problems, and share theresearch and development costs, reducing
the burden on any individual one of them.
In the next stages of the development ofsynthetic biology, whilst companies may
perceive that there is little or no technicalrisk in specific project areas, they certainly
perceive that there is commercial risk.
A three-component approach, comprising
input in both cash and kind, has beenfound to be effective. The threecomponents of this hybrid model areindustrial resources, public resources anduniversity resources. The public funding
contribution would normally be in terms ofcash or the de-risking of the investment tomake it more attractive to other potential
funders (such as venture capitalists). The
main university contribution is in terms ofresearch facilities and highly skilledresearch personnel. Industry may
contribute cash or know-how. The public
and university components of the modelact as a catalyst to counteract common
causes of failure of application projects asseen from industry, for example throughprovision of training, mentoring andexpansion of partnering opportunities.
Larger industries may also separately fundtheir own ‘in-house’ research to address
their internal investment criteria.
In his keynote speech at the University of
East Anglia ‘What’s the Good of
Government?’30 the Minister of State for
Universities and Science David Willettssaid: ‘The Government can bear the big
risks of scientific innovation, which are too
great for any individual company.’ This is
not to be interpreted as being an argument
for a ‘blank cheque’ from government for
innovative companies, but it does highlight30 S ee www.bis.gov.uk/news/speeches/david-willettswhats-the-good-of-government-2012

Biotica/Amyris: from therapeutics to renewable fuels
Polyketides are compounds from bacteria and fungi that hold great promise in areas
ranging from clinical medicine to biofuels. Biotica, a company co-founded by ProfessorPeter Leadley, of the University of Cambridge, has signed a non-exclusive deal with
Amyris, an integrated renewable products company, that will see Amyris use Biotica’s
polyketide engineering technology to make a range of compounds that are either
difficult or impossible to make by conventional methods. The agreement between
Biotica and Amyris could bring new routes to renewable fuels a step closer.

the potential for government to be an early
adopter and to stimulate demand forpotentially valuable innovations that initiallyentail a high degree of risk. One suchmechanism potentially available togovernment might be use of the Small
Business Research Initiative (SBRI) scheme.
SBRI could be used to procure synthetic
biology developments that potentiallymeet the strategic and operational needsof government departments and theinterests of society that they serve whilst
simultaneously serving to de-risk
commercial developments for emerging
private sector customers – thereby
creating new commercial markets as well.
BIS has increased the funding for SBRI
through the package of support for SMEs
announced in the Innovation andResearch Strategy31 to be delivered
through the Technology Strategy Board.
Since the launch of the programme in2009, SBRI has awarded 914 contracts
worth £78m to technology based SMEs.
Some 55 per cent of these contracts havebeen awarded to either micro (fewer than
10 employees) or small (fewer than 50
employees) companies, typically the sort ofcompanies that the public sector has thegreatest difficulty in contracting with. The
additional funding is expected to enable
the Government to build on this success,and promote awareness and take-up of
SBRI across departments. Synthetic
biology could be considered a candidate

31 See www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/innovation/docs/i/
11-1387-innovation-and-research-strategy-for-growth.pdf

technology for the future use of the SBRI
approach32.

Building a communityof practitioners
The UK has numerous well establishednetworks in the academic and businessdomains, and these have much tocontribute to a community of practice inthis space. Complex problems are often
best addressed by bringing a combinationof experienced and fresh minds to bear on
the topic. Applying a variety of mechanisms
to build a networked community will be
particularly important in synthetic biology
because of the wide range of disciplines
involved – science, engineering, social,
regulatory and others – and the need todevelop common standards and protocols.

Creating momentum –critical mass
When businesses cluster together they cancollectively be more effective. Examples
from the digital industry are well known
and include Silicon Valley, Silicon Fen, andTech City. With today’s communications it
is no longer essential for clusteringbusinesses to be located together, but
providing a nucleus for the activities ofvarious protagonists can add value. The
UK is fortunate in that three of the world’s
top 10 life sciences universities (Cambridge,
Oxford, Imperial) are relatively close
geographically and, indeed, the span of
32 See www.innovateuk.org under publications/about ourprogrammes

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 23

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

academic establishments working insynthetic biology and related disciplines
across the UK as a whole is relatively
compact.
A characteristic of synthetic biology is theneed for multidisciplinary centres.
Establishing a UK-wide network ofacademic, industrial and other organisational
interests will benefit from the presence of a
backbone of potentially several
multidisciplinary centres, including an
innovation and knowledge centre (IKC) for
synthetic biology. Reviewing the options
and proposing an optimum configuration
for the UK is a clear requirement emerging
from this roadmap.

Intellectual property
The way in which intellectual property (IP)rights are treated will play an important rolein encouraging the development ofsynthetic biology in the UK. At a fundamental
level, the concept of ‘ownership’ of livingorganisms raises ethical issues that areapproached differently in different territories.
At a technology level, there is a balance tobe struck between that which may
reasonably be protected and that which
would encourage greater enterprisethrough being made available as open
source. The BioBricks Foundation33
represent this latter approach, seeking toensure that standard biological parts theycreate are made freely available in the
public domain. Conversely, it is also
recognised that the formation of a fully
reliable and characterised library of parts
will require significant investment that may
reasonably justify a level of intellectual
property protection. Related issues arise
when considering more complex entities
assembled from these basic parts such asdevices and systems. Finding where to
draw the line between what is publicly
available and what is protected by IP
remains a subject of ongoing debate.
Nevertheless, there is clearly a regime inwhich specific applications are developed,
optimised and commercialised for which
IP ownership will be vitally important. It is
33 http://biobricks.org/

Amyris: anti-malarials and more
Amyris is a US-based company that is using synthetic biology to produce highperforming alternatives to oil-based fuels and chemicals. Amyris was founded in 2003
by four post-doctoral researchers from the University of California Berkeley. Theirfounding product was Artemisinin, a highly effective anti-malarial medicine traditionallyderived from plants using a slow and expensive process. The Amyris team usedsynthetic biology to engineer the pathway for producing an Artemisinin precursor inyeast which could then be converted into the drug relatively easily. Amyris granted aroyalty-free licence for the technology to Sanofi-aventis to develop the production
process to a commercial scale. Using building-blocks derived from its yeast-based
platform and renewable feedstocks, Amyris is now developing a slate of different
products for the fuels and specialist chemicals markets.

vital to establish an appropriate and moreconsistent approach to determining what
is, or is not, suitable as a basis forprotection as intellectual property in thisfield of synthetic biology. To be broadly
useful and effective, this will need to beaddressed at an international level.
We have identified the importance ofimproved academic/industrial partnerships,
and indeed the links between different
scales of industry in developing synthetic
biology in the UK. Establishing suitablemechanisms for IP capture and ownershipwill be highly influential in promoting thedesired working environment. A common
approach is to consider the developmentof ideas sequentially, capturing IP along
the pathway and, for example, if thepatentable idea is developed within
academia, to consider translation to industry
via licensing (compare the Lambert
Review model from 200334). Alternatively,
taking the more integrated approach wehave explored in this roadmap, it is clearthat industry plays a significant role inhelping identify and access end markets,and in so doing may help shape and focus
the early-stage and application development
processes. The recent ‘patent-box’
initiative, which provides a tax break forcorporate income earned through the
exploitation of a patented invention,
provides a strong incentive to industries to34 w ww.hm-treasury.gov.uk/lambert_review_business_
university_collab.htm

24 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP

get more involved in the development ofqualifying IP within the UK, and has
already had an important influence on the
recent decision by GlaxoSmithKline toincrease their investments in the UK35.

Important technologies
for development
It will be important to invest in thedevelopment of technologies that work
across a wide range of applications. This
will include the development of accurate
and reliable characterisation methods fordefining bioparts and the development ofdifferent types of hosts or chassis (ie cells
used in the synthetic biology process).
Particularly relevant here is thedevelopment of new industrial strains ofhosts. New wet-lab assembly techniques
will need to be optimised for industrial
application. Biopart characterisation, hostdevelopment and assembly methods
could be incorporated within a web-based
information environment containing
bioCAD tools, a registry of bioparts (withtheir associated metadata) and a registryof models. Industrial engineering methods,
applicable to the specific applications, willneed to be developed, leading ultimately
to the development of biofactories.

35 w ww.gsk.com/media/pressreleases/2012/2012pressrelease-994808.htm

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Theme 4:

Applications and markets
One of the exciting things about
synthetic biology is the wide range ofapplications to which it might be put.
Its potential is truly as a platform
technology, capable of realising
benefit in a very wide range ofmarkets. The full breadth ofapplications is clearly articulated in
the literature and was reinforced by
the workshops we held. Below is asummary of some of the key
opportunities that have been identified
and from which the UK is well placed
to benefit. Many of these benefits
could be realised using renewable andpotentially low-carbon biologicalmaterials.

Medicines and healthcare
An increasing proportion, currently an
estimated 20% (up from 10% in 200236),of all medicines are biopharmaceuticals– in which the active pharmaceuticalingredient (API) is a large biologicalmolecule, such as a protein (as in insulin)rather than a small molecule (as in aspirin).
Such large and complex molecules can bevery difficult and/or expensive to extractfrom natural plant materials or make using
conventional chemical processes.
Synthetic biology has the potential for astep-change reduction in the difficulty of
production, potentially making expensive
drugs, both biopharmaceuticals and small
molecule APIs, more available to patients,
and also benefiting the industry. BCC
Research identify around 20 drugs basedon the use of synthetic biology that are
currently under development or clinicalevaluation37. We know of others. Cells
could potentially be designed for use as
therapeutic agents to deliver delicate drug
molecules (that would otherwise be
metabolised by the body before reaching
the diseased area) in a targeted way. It iseven possible to envisage the use of a cell
36 EvaluatePharma World Preview 2016: Beyond The
Patent Cliff, p8 (June 2011)37 B
 CC Research, Synthetic Biology: Emerging Global
Markets. November 2011.

as a biosensor to detect a biomarker for adisease and then, from within the same cell,to switch on the production of a desired
drug. If brought to fruition, this could truly
revolutionise the treatment of chronic
illness. Other applications include vaccinesand gene therapies. Synthetic biology
technologies could also be used as enabling
tools to help researchers identify andinterrupt disease pathways more quickly.

Fine and speciality chemicals
Although it is not possible in all cases now,
the technology has the theoretical potential
to produce many of the chemicals ormaterials currently derived frompetrochemical feedstocks using
fermentation/industrial biotechnology
routes and renewable feedstocks.
Industrial biotechnology could be a key
application area for synthetic biology,
providing the platform to deliver benefits to
many different sectors. Potential applications
include cosmetics, flavours, fragrances,lubricants, additives, polymers andrubbers, surfactants, biopharmaceuticals
and detergents. In some cases, synthetic
biology may already provide advantages
over existing routes, and, in the longer
term, alternative routes to materials
currently derived from fossil hydrocarbons
may become increasingly attractive.

In the short to medium term, industrial
biotechnology is an area that could derive
particular benefit from synthetic biology,
with opportunities for economic growth. To
help drive this process, it will be important
for the Industrial Biotechnology Leadership
Forum and the Synthetic Biology
Leadership Council to ensure their work isaligned.

EnergyThe production of biofuels using biologicalconversion processes is well established.
Bioethanol is the product of fermentationby yeast. In addition to yeast, a variety ofdifferent micro-organisms, including
bacteria and cyanobacteria, are being
investigated for fuel component
production capabilities. Modification ofsuch organisms to improve production
economics or to produce different fuel orchemical component characteristics isbeing explored by many universities andcompanies, for example modifying yeast
to produce iso-butanol38, or farnasene39,
whilst engineered clostridia may be usedin the industrial production of n-butanol40.
Longer-term options include directconversion of sunlight to fuels such ashydrogen. Such ‘solar fuels’, produced via‘artificial photosynthesis’, may be achieved
using entirely inorganic materials, or by
applying synthetic biology to produce

TMO Renewables
One of the cornerstones of the TMO process is the ability of its proprietary
microorganisms to produce ethanol from a wide range of non-food lignocellulosic
feedstocks. TMO has achieved this by employing a synthetic biology approach todevelop strains that can convert such feedstocks to fermentable sugars with greater
efficiency, thus maximising ethanol yields and lowering one of the economic barriers
that previously restricted the manufacture of cellulosic ethanol. Using synthetic biology
techniques will facilitate the development of additional improved strains for use in the
production of other renewable fuels and chemicals.

38 G
 evo: http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/05/
butanol-hits-the-biofuels-big-time.html
39 Amyris: Renewable Chemicals Digest, 25 June 2010.
40 Green Biologics: www.greenbiologics.com/

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 25

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UKsome form of hybrid system. Such an
approach would have the benefits of direct
photon capture, with the captured energy
stored in chemical bonds via conversion ofwater or carbon dioxide. A number ofacademic groups in the UK are working inthis field, including Imperial College andGlasgow (see box)41.

The artificial leaf
Professor Richard Cogdell and Professor Lee Cronin (University of Glasgow) are taking
a synthetic biology approach in a bid to create an artificial ‘leaf’ capable of converting
the sun’s energy into a carbon-based liquid fuel. The researchers hope to use chemical
reactions similar to photosynthesis but in an artificial system. Plants are able to takesolar energy, concentrate it and use it to split apart water into hydrogen and oxygen.
The oxygen is released and the hydrogen is locked into a fuel. Their research aims touse synthetic biology to replicate this process.

Environmental
Synthetic biology technologies could be
useful in bioremediation42, for the digestionof otherwise difficult to dispose ofmaterials, or for the absorption andretention of impurities, such as arsenic orradioactive elements, in water. It could
become possible to mine waste streams
using novel organisms to seek out, andconcentrate up, rare elements from
distributed sources such as waste effluent
streams or landfill. The technology could
also find application in CO2 capture.

Sensors
Biological systems can be highly sensitiveand can detect extremely low levels oftarget substances with extremely highselectivity and specificity43. This fact could
be used to design sensor systems that
could be used in healthcare applications
to detect the early stages of time-criticalconditions such as sepsis, or to give early
warning of the presence of undesirable
bacteria, viruses or other pathogens or
poisons. They may also be used to checkfor contamination of drinking water, forexample by arsenic44.

Agriculture and food
Agriculture is a powerful route for
producing large volumes of biologicalmaterials (such as for food, clothing or
paper) or smaller compounds (such as
sugar). Synthetic biology has the potential
to make food crops less vulnerable tostresses such as drought, saline water or
pests and diseases; and/or to create newplants that can produce, in the field, large
volumes of substances useful to man.

The global value of these combined
markets has been estimated by BCC to be$10.8bn by 201645, up from $1.6bn in 2011.
Products generated using synthetic
biology techniques are expected toaccount for $9.5bn of this, with $1.3bn
arising from the market for underpinningtechnologies.

Core and underpinningtechnologies
In addition to the synthetic-biology-derived
products mentioned above, a thriving
industry would have to draw upon a rangeof core and underpinning technologies
such as DNA design, DNA synthesis, rapid
sequencing, bioparts, microfluidics,
enzyme evolution or other manufacturing
technologies, and bioCAD or other ICT
tools. Technology development in theseareas could itself provide a basis forpossible new industries, with DNA
sequencing an example of a successful UK
development in underpinning technology.

41 S
 olar Fuels and Artificial Photosynthesis, Royal Societyof Chemistry (www.rsc.org/solar-fuels) Jan 201242 Victor de Lorenzo, Current Opinions in Biotechnology,
2008, 19, 579.
43 A
 hmed Khalil and James Collins, Nature Reviews
Genetics 11, 367-379 (May 2010)44 D evelopment of a Set of Simple Bacterial Biosensors for
Quantitative and Rapid Measurements of Arsenite andArsenate in Potable Water. Stocker, J. et al. Environ. Sci.
Technol, 2003, 37, 4743-4750

26 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP

45 B
 CC Research, Synthetic Biology: Emerging Global
Markets. November 2011. Summary: http://bccresearch.
blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/global-market-for-syntheticbiology-to.html

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Theme 5:International cooperation
Realising the vision for synthetic
biology should allow the UK to play aleading role in the international
response to global challenges,
including helping to set standards andsuitable operating frameworks. In thisway, the UK may reasonably seek tobuild on its current strengths andassume a leading international role insynthetic biology.

Coordinated international
cooperation
The UK is an important international player
in synthetic biology through a major role inorganising the Six-Academy Synthetic
Biology Symposia. The six academies are
the US’s National Academy of Scienceand National Academy of Engineering,
the UK’s Royal Society and Royal
Academy of Engineering, and the two
equivalent Chinese academies. Thesemeetings have played an important rolein development and direction. We should
continue to build upon the six academies
initiative and at the national level seek
further coordination between national
learned societies with interest in the field(for example, the Biochemical Society,
the Royal Society of Chemistry, Society
for General Microbiology, the Institutionof Engineering and Technology and theInstitute of Physics).
International collaboration should also be
encouraged and supported through theresearch councils. Mechanisms such as‘ideas labs’ and ‘sandpits’46 joint with the
US have been very successful at funding
high-quality innovative science in synthetic
biology. On a smaller scale, partnering
awards have also been effective in seeding
international collaborations. Thesemechanisms can be complemented by thework of the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (FCO), Science and Innovation
Network and British Council funding
46 w ww.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/2009/Pages/
syntheticbiologysandpit.aspx

scholarships and meetings. The FCO hasa further role to play helping to promote
UK science to foreign investors. We should
aim to have a co-ordinated approach tointernational engagement, ensuring that
we proactively engage partners to result in
the greatest benefit to UK synthetic biology
research and to UK plc.
The UK academic community should
continue to be very involved in theorganisation of international conferencesin synthetic biology (both in the UK andabroad). These may approach the subject
from a variety of different perspectives,
as exemplified by the enGENEious
conference organised by students in June
201247 through to plans for the UK to hostthe next (6th) international conferencein synthetic biology (SB 6.0)48 in 2013.
A UK–organised Gordon Conference inthe field could have a strong impact.

Engagement with international
policy and funding bodies
Active engagement with international
bodies will remain a very importantelement in the development of synthetic
biology and in realising its potential.
Despite a range of differences inapproaches at national and regional
levels, significant commonality also exists.
Learning from this diversity of approaches,sharing best practice and seeking
common standards where appropriate will
all contribute positively towards theestablishment of effective applications on
a global scale.
The question of intellectual property insynthetic biology should be discussed
internationally, as it is not currently welldefined. For this reason, there should becontinued engagement with theOrganisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development. There should be
encouragement of collaboration on

47 http://engeneious.chem.ox.ac.uk/
48 http://sb6.biobricks.org/

studies relating to IP, in terms ofindustrialisation, as this is clearly an
important issue. The patent situation forexisting biological components and theiruse in research is in many cases unclear,and joint work would help to clarify thissituation. The World Health Organisation
should also be engaged in the areas ofinternational healthcare, funding andgovernance. Joint work should beundertaken on regulations, ensuring arobust international regulatory frameworkfor synthetic biology.
European (including UK) funders havecollectively funded transnational projects
in synthetic biology through the European
Science Foundation EUROCORES
initiative49. More recently, an ERA-NET insynthetic biology (ERASynBio) was
launched50 which aims to enhance
European synthetic biology by coordinating national funders. The BBSRC
has a strong role in the strategic
development and infrastructure planningfor this. The EU framework programme
provides a route for large investments insynthetic biology. The next frameworkprogram, Horizon 2020, will provide in theregion of P80m for European science with
an emphasis on creating a knowledge
based bioeconomy (KBBE), including arole for synthetic biology. This should
be linked to the EU bioeconomy initiative.
The UK should maintain its highinvolvement in the development of Horizon
2020 to ensure appropriate support forsynthetic biology research.
Joint funding between the UK and US
should continue to be explored andexcellent collaborations and the networks
generated through ideas labs andsandpits should continue to be supported.
Opportunities to jointly fund with other
non-EU countries leading on synthetic
biology should also be explored.

49 www.esf.org/activities/eurocores.html
50 http://netwatch.jrc.ec.europa.eu/nw/index.cfm/info/Net/
NetId/860D14FB0023C80D84EE1BBABCF12015

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 27

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

International synthetic biology links to the UK(a) UK – Europe
Policy links
Funding links: ESF EuroSYNBIO grants with UK partners
Centres involved in UK – EU FP7 funded projects(b) UK – Rest of the World
Policy links: Six Academies symposia participants*The US is also an observer in ERASynBio
Funding links: BBSRC – NSF Enhancing photosynthesis grants
EPSRC – NSF Synthetic biology sandpit grants
Figure 6: International synthetic biology links to the UK:a) Links between the UK and Europe. Further information about these international links isavailable at: ERASynBio www.erasynbio.net/; EuroSYNBIO www.esf.org/activities/eurocores/
running-programmes/eurosynbio.html; and UK-EU FP7 funded projects http://cordis.europa.
eu/home_en.htmlb) Links between the UK and the rest of the world. Further information on these international links
can be found at: Six Academies http://blogs.royalsociety.org/in-verba/2011/04/15/; BBSRC- NSF Enhancing Photosynthesis - http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/news/food-security/2011/110927-fincreasing-food-and-fuel-production.aspx; EPSRC-NSF sandpit /www.epsrc.ac.uk/
newsevents/news/2009/Pages/syntheticbiologysandpit.aspx
28 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP

Establishing international
standards
The establishment of international
standards is seen as an essential step inthe translation/industrialisation process forsynthetic biology, and some work is
on-going in the UK, US and Europe, forexample in relation to biocomponents.
In the US, the technical standards work
mainly revolves around synthetic biology
open language (SBOL). The work under
SBOL relates to the definition of DNA
sequences and their unambiguous
transmission. Another aspect of the work
is to achieve data format compatibility witha range of BioCAD software packages,
such as Gene Designer. The European
work on standards involves two aspects:
the development of standard laboratory
and other protocols for biopart
characterisation and assembly (including
metadata), and the development of acomprehensive information standard
called DICOM-SB. This standard isdesigned to be an extension of the highly
successful DICOM standard forbiomedicine. In the jargon, what is being
developed is a new piece of the standard.
This will be directly compatible with all
aspects of the original standard, which is
widely used by industry.
As globally-applicable applications
develop, so needs for further
standardisation are likely to emerge.
Involvement of the British Standards
Institution in developing international
standards (with ISO as appropriate) would
significantly contribute towards providing
the consistency required to establish
working systems and assist UK synthetic
biology companies to compete globally.

International involvement ineducation and training
International summer schools are aneffective method of enabling UK scientists
to engage with and train in an international
environment. Effort should be devoted toA synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

establishing international summer schools
for synthetic biology. These could betargeted at specific countries or regions,for example within the EU (as is being
done through ERASynBio) or with the US,or left open to all nations, allowing thedissemination of UK synthetic biology
practice more widely.
Higher degree coordination needs to beaddressed. What is envisaged is thecreation of a joint group to share bestpractice in creating curriculums forsynthetic biology at various levels.
However, it is not recommended to planand implement any form of joint PhD
programme involving multiple universities– experience has shown that this isextremely difficult to achieve because of
the problem of aligning higher degree
regulations. A more practical possibility is
the coordination of, for example, PhD
programmes where students rotate
through various laboratories (often indifferent countries), but are registered at asingle university. One mechanism toincrease international collaboration would
be to allow students to undertake researchrotations or research visits to institutions
within different countries (similar to the
British Council ERASMUS scheme).
As noted previously in theme 1, iGEM has
been very influential in getting synthetic
biology recognised internationally. It is ahighly prestigious student competition.
Last year, around 130 teams from universities
all over the world took part and there has
been good UK representation with UK
teams winning a number of medals andawards at the final. Due to its expanding
popularity and size, opportunities toparticipate now take place at regional
levels, not only globally. Participation in thecompetition by UK universities should be
encouraged to inspire the next generationof synthetic biologists.

Establishing international
markets and supply-chains
The establishment of international markets
and supply chains requires a number ofcomponents to be put in place. Dependingon the nature of the project and whether or
not it involves an SME, it will be necessary
to seek industrial support, funding or
partnership. If the project is university
based, then a partnership with a large
company with international links may bemost appropriate. This can mosteffectively be done via some form oflicensing or cooperative research
agreement. However, large industries arewell placed to identify appropriate
research groups to partner with anywherein the world, so ease of working together in
addition to world-class expertise will be
important factors in their selection. Smaller
companies may require more specificsupport to access international markets,for example by being assisted indeveloping some form of showcase
programme that would in turn attract therequired external investment or partnership.
An important question is how to develop
and fund a trained workforce to support asolid research base. There is no doubt thatwith knowledge-based industries it is thequality of the workforce that is a key factor
in attracting companies to particularlocations (the area around Massachusetts
Institute of Technology is a prime exampleof this phenomenon). The UK is major
research player; hence it is important to
put mechanisms in place to attract
international companies to locate in the UK
to undertake industrial activity in synthetic
biology, for example by the creation ofresearch campuses built around ouruniversities and research institutes.

examples of high-tech companies
retaining a key presence in the UK. By
considering the opportunities arising whilst
the sector is still at an early stage, as inthis roadmap, it may be possible toestablish a ‘silicon valley’ type environment
for synthetic biology in the UK that attracts
inward investment and secures a criticalmass from which growth may continue toflourish locally.
However, reflecting the increasinglyinterconnected nature of global markets
and the rapidly growing interest insynthetic biology internationally, it is also
important to consider the nature of thiscore technology in synthetic biology andthe opportunities that increasing
globalisation may generate. One approach
could be to focus on producing new
generations of the technology andproviding vehicles for fullcommercialisation, using licensing deals
to provide revenue streams as specific
new technologies are rolled out. Anotherwould be to take a positive approach
towards stimulating appropriate end
market activities, for example, agreeing
with EU partners to establish a ‘leadmarket initiative’ in synthetic biology, or
working with the UKTI or FCO to initiate
specialist trade missions for the sector.

With sectors like synthetic biology there
could be a tendency for the technology tomove abroad once any form of volume
market has been established (as seen with
next-generation sequencing), although it
should be noted that there are also many

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 29

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Realising the vision
Realising our vision will require an
integrated approach today guided bya long-term view. Success will stemfrom the enterprise and enthusiasm
of individuals and stakeholder groups
within the UK community, nurtured
within a supportive yet clearlystructured national operating
environment, itself set within theinternational context.
The following recommendations address
a number of critical success factors
derived from consideration of the materialsummarised in the five themes. These
need to be taken forward as a whole if thesector is to thrive. The purpose of thisroadmap is to chart options for a way
forward, but not to pre-empt the outcomesof more detailed follow-up studies thatmust necessarily take place, continuing toengage experts and the broader
community as appropriate.
This roadmap was requested by the UK
Department for Business Innovation and
Skills (BIS), and there is a role forgovernment in translating the UK’s
world-leading synthetic biology sciencebase into a commercially vibrant andviable sector. It should begin with thegovernment adopting this roadmap andstrategic intent.

The important role ofpublic investment
Examples from many different
administrations have highlighted theneed for public investment to unlock thepotential of emerging technologies.
Initial investment by the US Departmentof Defence in DARPANet (Defence
Advanced Research Projects Agency),
led to investment in the first network to
speed up communications between its
university researchers involved indefence research.
DARPA realised that connecting
universities and the network had wider
applications, and moved the project
into the National Science Foundation.
NSFNet led to public sector investment
in servers, high-speed networks
and initial operations, without which
the Internet would not have beendeveloped as it is.
With suitable infrastructures in place,innovative applications can flourish –such as the development ofHyperText Mark-up Language (html)
by Tim Berners-Lee leading directly
to the meteoric expansion of theworld-wide-web.

A cross-Whitehall strategy group
appropriately linked to the role of the
proposed leadership council should beestablished to detail how and where
the government will support thedevelopment of this sector with the aimof delivering economic growth andemployment in the UK.

30 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUPA synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Recommendations
The following section summarises themain recommendations arising for
immediate consideration by BIS. Further
details and examples may be found under
the relevant themes.

1.3 Centres within this core network should
also provide an effective training
environment and venues forconferences and other essential
stakeholder interactions.

1. Invest in a network ofmultidisciplinary centres toestablish an outstanding UK
synthetic biology resource

1.4 A process should be initiatedimmediately to help define this
proposed infrastructure, as follows:

Facilitating communications andlearning, and networking experts
across disciplines with customers,
public and private interest groups arecommon themes running through thisroadmap. One key element will be toprovide access to cutting-edge
resources for both the academic
community and industry. A single
multidisciplinary centre already exists
within the UK, but there is now a needto establish a number of additional
centres to boost the national research
capacity and diversify our expertise,stimulating innovation and facilitating
the interfaces with industry and otherkey stakeholders. Innovation andknowledge centres (IKCs) alreadyprovide an established mechanism for
integrating cutting-edge academic
science with business. Embedding an
IKC within this overall structure will
provide the important function ofacademic/business integration.
1.1 Sufficient resources should be
deployed within the UK to ensure
availability of research capacity and afull spectrum of essential facilities
including sequencing and synthesis,
CAD and robotics commensurate with
the needs of the innovation community.
1.2 This multi-centre network should becoordinated to provide ‘one-stop’
access to critical resources andexpertise, enhancing developmental
opportunities for academia andindustry alike, including leveraging
capabilities in other relevant institutions(such as the European Bioinformatics
Institute) as appropriate.

• establish the overall requirementsof the multi-centre network in linewith the roadmap objectives andconcurrent plans to establish a
synthetic biology IKC• undertake an audit and prepare an
inventory of resources currently
available• determine essential resource
requirements, based on theinventory and what is needed tomeet the roadmap objectives• define an appropriate configuration(and optimal number) of centres
that will deliver the whole concept• estimate overall costs and timescales• report to the proposed leadershipcouncil in autumn 2012.
2. Build a skilled, energised andwell-funded UK-wide synthetic
biology community
Complementary to recommendation 1
above, which focuses on boosting our
foundational and applied researchbase, attention should be given todeveloping a skilled, energised,
responsible and well-funded
community. This will involve stimulating
cross-disciplinary interactions andsharing best practice, encouraging
innovative research proposals andfacilitating the development of valuableapplications. Together with theprovision of further guidance on
responsible research and innovationand other training initiatives, anincreasingly secure and confident‘can-do’ culture should be established.

2.1 Community building. Develop a
synthetic biology special interest group(SIG) to facilitate interactions across thecommunity by fostering coordinatedefforts, showcasing events andengendering a greater awareness offunding mechanisms to pursue
opportunities.
2.2 Embedding responsible innovation.
Public sector investment in synthetic
biology should take into account social,
ethical and regulatory issues andincrease awareness of responsible
innovation via training programmes.
This will include on-going stakeholder
engagement and dialogue with widersocial groups.
2.3 Training. The next generation synthetic
biology community needs to compriseresearchers with (a) depth within core
disciplines and the ability to work incross-disciplinary collaboration; and (b)high-level, broad interdisciplinary
synthetic biology expertise. Training
should also integrate broader societal
and business contexts andunderstanding. Doctoral training should
be included as an important element
within the multidisciplinary centres.
Further training mechanisms include:• identified students to havecross-disciplinary supervision andexperience of working in industry
through professional internships.
Students should be educated insocietal and ethical issues andprovided with opportunities fortechnical and management training• summer schools and short courses:
targeted to meet the common anddifferent needs of industrial andacademic researchers. Courses
could include introduction to core
principles, training in platform
technologies, and businessdevelopment.

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 31

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

3. Invest to accelerate technology
responsibly to market
An essential activity in commercialising
disruptive emerging technologies is toundertake an iterative process ofmatching technology with potential
market opportunities, anddemonstrating that the potential
benefits can be achieved in order toattract the investment required. Thiscan be hard to justify for companies
where the precise value proposition orbusiness model is still unclear. The UK
should invest to help innovators tocreate new products, processes orservices using synthetic biology in a
responsible way. Because synthetic
biology is at an early stage it is possiblethat it may find application in a myriadof ways as yet unconsidered. An
open-ended innovative approach toearly-stage research must also bepreserved and stimulated and notconstrained to market situations as
currently understood.
3.1 Help companies evaluate the potentialof synthetic biology in their markets,
linking outstanding science to realworld commercial opportunities, forexample by:• facilitating access to expertise andfacilities• setting strategic targets that could
stimulate market demand.
3.2 Technology Strategy Board, withresearch council partners and otherinvestors, should invest in:• small-scale feasibility studies totest out ideas in a wide range ofapplication areas• larger-scale R&D projects todemonstrate the technology forpromising applications.
3.3 Help companies embed best practiceuse of synthetic biology technology intheir organisations through targeted
programme of Knowledge Transfer
Partnership (KTPs).

3.4 Ensure provision of an impartial
resource to help innovators in the area
to evaluate the ethical, social,
regulatory and business issues raisedby their proposed innovations, suchthat the maximum benefits of thetechnology can be achieved.
3.5 Promote the use of responsible
innovation across the sector by:• increasing levels of interaction
between the synthetic biology
research community and risk
regulatory bodies, ensuring that thelegislative framework continues toadequately encompasses novel
entities as they arise• translating the principles ofcontinuing responsible researchand innovation into the funding
mechanisms and related activities
recommended in this roadmap.
4. Assume a leading international role
International collaboration is an
essential factor underpinning progressin synthetic biology, reflecting theincreasingly knowledge-based andinterconnected nature of 21st-century
society. Clear economic benefits derivefrom increasing scientific activity
between countries, and this expectation
lies behind a range of initiatives,
including joint research programmes insynthetic biology between funders in
the US and Europe and China.
Whereas the UK is considered to leadsynthetic biology in Europe, our total
research funding is significantly lower
than in the US. On the other hand,overall research effort across Europe
including the UK is comparable to theUS, placing the UK in a prime position
to continue its leading international role,for example in helping to establish
international standards, both technicaland regulatory. A number of
mechanisms should be invoked topromote this position.

32 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP

4.1 The British Government should play aleading, proactive role in promoting
synthetic biology internationally,
particularly in the US, China and within
the EU (for example through the EU
Bio-economy Initiative and Horizon 2020).
4.2 The UK should work with other countries
on the development of IP frameworks
that establish a more constructivebalance between the benefits of open
information exchange at the foundational
level and the opportunity to protect
valid proprietary developments.
4.3 The UK should work with othercountries on the development ofregulations and a governance modelfor the field that is robust andproportionate and adopted
internationally.
4.4 The UK should establish mechanisms
to promote the UK as a centre forinternational conferences in the field andhelp coordinate international activity inadvanced training in synthetic biology.
5. Establish a leadership council
The range of potential synthetic biology
applications and the corresponding
number of bodies involved in different
aspects of synthetic biology mean
there is a need for one body to be avisible point of coordination. We
envisage this to be a leadershipcouncil. We propose that theleadership council owns and oversees
the continual development and deliveryof the vision and roadmap.
5.1 The leadership council should act as a
focal point for the development of thesynthetic biology sector in the UK,
bringing together key interested
stakeholders representing a wide
diversity of interests, including:industrialists; leading academics;
regulators; social scientists; theresearch councils; Technology Strategy
Board; learned societies; NGOs; otherstakeholders; and relevant government
departments.

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

5.2 It should provide an exemplar of
openness and transparency with
two-way stakeholder engagement as acore principle.
5.3 The group should meet three times a
year, with at least one meeting held in
public. The activity of the council
should be supported by ongoing
dialogue via social media.
5.4 There is a need for a leadership council
to be a visible point of coordination,
however there are many bodies in thisfield, each with a different remit. We
would encourage and expect membersof the leadership council to work with,and where appropriate sit on theseother bodies.
5.5.The work of the leadership council
should be supported by sub-groups,
appointed by the council, which will
deliver discrete pieces of work, forexample engagement, regulation, orinternational collaboration. We would
encourage membership of thesegroups to be broader than that of theleadership council, and to incorporatea much wider cohort of stakeholders.

UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP | 33

A synthetic biology roadmap for the UK

Membership of the UK Synthetic Biology
Roadmap Coordination Group
Lionel Clarke (Shell) – chairman
Joe Adams /Peter Sutton(GlaxoSmithKline)
Janet Bainbridge (UK Trade & Investment)
Ewan Birney (European Bioinformatics
Institute)Jane Calvert (University of Edinburgh)
Amanda Collis (Biotechnology andBiological Sciences Research Council)
Richard Kitney /Paul Freemont(Imperial College, London)
Paul Mason (Technology Strategy Board)
Kedar Pandya /Talit Ghaffar (Engineeringand Physical Sciences Research Council)
Nikolas Rose /Claire Marris(King’s College London)
Dek Woolfson (University of Bristol)Technical Secretariat:
Andy Boyce (Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council)
Observers from UK Government
Department for Business, Innovationand Skills: Ron Egginton, David Uffindell
Government Office for Science:
Michael Edbury

Footnote
This roadmap draws upon materials and inputs generated by participants in the two workshops and also reflects ideas drawn from awide range of other relevant sources. It seeks to reflect a representative view drawn from within the UK community, but does not purport
to represent the totality of views that may exist within the UK – further engagement as an ongoing process is a specificrecommendation. Nor does it necessarily represent the views of those bodies with whom individual coordination group members areaffiliated. Information on markets and trends has been drawn from publicly-available data to illustrate possible futures for synthetic
biology, but should not be interpreted as a recommendation and no liability may be accepted by the contributors to this study in regard
to any investment decisions taken on the basis of this material.

34 | UK SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY ROADMAP COORDINATION GROUP

Published by Technology Strategy Board on behalf of
UK Synthetic Biology Roadmap Coordination Group

Technology Strategy Board
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Telephone: 01793 442700
www.innovateuk.org© Technology Strategy Board July 2012 T11/070