Podcast: SynBioBeta's The Inside Track

There is a new podcast in town!  Well, there are probably a lot of new podcasts, but this one is covering Synthetic Biology, thanks to SynBioBeta, an innovation network that connects people from diverse walks of life to build a better planet through biology. I have mentioned a few SynBioBeta podcasts in the past, such as Built with Biology: Spaces and Built with Biology: Spotlight.  However this is a new series, titled The Inside Track.

The first episode covered Biodesign. Host Jeff Buguliskis, the Director of Content for SynBioBeta spoke to three wonderful guests who gave their insights on the state of all things Biodesign. The guests were Dan Grushkin, founder of Biodesign Challenge; Ginger Dosier, architect and Co-Founder of Biomason and finally Kit McDonnell, Director of Communictions at LanzaTech.

The conversation was wide-ranging but the group was quick to mention the upcoming Global Synthetic Biology Conference, "Biologize the Future" being held May 6-9 in San Jose. It sounds like a fun event!

I did not have any handy AI to help me transcribe the podcast, and it wasn't clear who was Kit and who was Ginger in the beginning so it took a while for me to be sure who was saying what, and frankly, your best bet is to listen in to really capture the incredible passion all the members of the podcast have towards synthetic biology and biodesign. At one point Ginger stated that we need to be designing for life even in the initial designs, and that we need to be thinking about the products' short and long term impacts. She said there is an estimated one trillion organisms on earth and we know "nothing" and need to progress with humility. She also said that there is awe and wonder in Biology, both for what it is and what is can do. I like that!

Kit reminded all of us that we too are biology, and that we need to get away from human-centered design. Our language about biodesign is evolving from "exploiting" the uses of an organism to working with the organisms.

Dan agreed--he felt that at the beginning of the synthetic biology movement the approach was to control the organism, and now there is the recognition that the organism has agency and we should not seek to control it but rather, as Kit said, we should work with it.

At one point Dan brought up the idea of Druids, and although there was general laughter, I think that the concept of working in concert with biology rather than controling it is the right way to go.  Have a listen, and explore synthetic biology in all its forms and see what you think!