Synbio Project "bioSYNergy" Receives Funds from UCPH Excellence Programme for Interdisciplinary Research

Center for Synthetic Biology becomes more crossdisciplinary after the project bioSYNergy has been selected as recipient by University of Copenhagen's Excellence Programme for Interdisciplinary Research - also known as the 2016 Funds. This allows the start of new collaborations with researchers at University of Copenhagen specializing in intelligent property and communication. 

The project was one of 18 selected recipients among 142 initial applicants and it is described as follows: 

Plants use solar energy to drive the synthesis of complex compounds. In the bioSYNergy project, synthetic biology will be used to extend this ability to solar driven production of high-value and new-to-nature natural compounds in photosynthetic cells and thus provide a sustainable alternative to the current production of pharmaceuticals, food ingredients and other industrial compounds. Pharmaceuticals will be screened towards G-protein coupled receptors taking advantage of resolved crystal structures and nano science technologies. A bioethics and communications platform for dialogue with society on the use and implications of synthetic biology will be established and intellectual property and regulatory aspects related to the open source approaches of synthetic biology will be addressed.

The new principal investigators that were not already directly affiliated with Center for Synthetic Biology are

- Head of Department of Media, Cognition and Communication at Faculty of Humanities, Maja Horst representing the communications platform for dialogue with society: https://mef.ku.dk/ominstituttet/ledelse/?id=139745&vis=medarbejder

- Assistant Professor Timo Minssen at Faculty of Law representing the research in intellectual property and regulatory aspects related to the open source approaches of synthetic biology. https://jura.ku.dk/ciir/ansatte/?id=381631&vis=medarbejder

Among the other recipients of funding from the UCPH Excellence Programme for Interdisciplinary Research were a project lead by Member of Center for Synthetic Biology's Steering Group, Professor Ulrik Gether: "Attention to Dopamine: From Psychological Functions to Molecular Mechanisms"

If you have a login to the University's intranet, you can read about each funded project here: https://intranet.ku.dk/research/UCPHs2016FUNDS/granted-projects/Pages/default.aspx