Dear EuSynBioS community,
 

Welcome to our first newsletter of 2024! Last year was a busy and very successful one for us. We were extremely excited to revamp our website and re-launch our blogs. We also brought to you several very interesting seminars and introduced our latest initiative, the SynbioBrewery.

In the below newsletter, you will find details of the resources in our new website, the announcement of our next online EuSynBioSeminar and a summary of our achievements from 2023. We have lots planned for the year ahead. We look forward to having you with us along the way and continuing to serve the talented European synthetic biology community.
 

Content of the newsletter

1) Join the steering committee
2) Introduction to the new EUSynBioS website
3) Past events updates
4) SynbioBrewery: hackathon & community platform
5) Participate in our next blog post!
6) Upcoming events
7) Social Media and Networking
8) Feedback and Surveys

1 - Join the steering committee
 

Are you passionate about Synthetic Biology and want to get involved at the European community level? 

Join the Steering Committee of the European Synthetic Biology Society and help us bring together the European Synthetic Biology community!

We welcome applications from people from diverse academic and professional backgrounds, passionate about Synthetic Biology and willing to make a difference. Please, share with us your relevant background and, most importantly, your motivation to get involved in EUSynBioS’ activities, as well as your vision for the European Synthetic Biology community. Furthermore, we invite you to indicate how you would like to contribute to EUSynBioS’ activities. We will try to get back to you as soon as possible.

This year we are particularly looking for candidates motivated to contribute to blog content writing, graphic design, virtual event(s) development, seminar coordination, online community engagement, website & social media management and outreach & fundraising.  If you have any expertise/interest in these areas, we encourage you to mention this in your application. Additionally, we are looking for applicants from Brno, Czech Republic to help us organize our yearly event during 7th Applied Synthetic Biology in Europe (ASBE7) taking place on 6-8 November 2024 in Brno, Czech Republic.

If you have any questions before applying, please contact us!

You are welcome to apply here. The application deadline is on the 31st of March.

2 - Introduction to the new EUSynBioS website

In early 2023, we redesigned our website, both stylistically and functionally. We wanted a fresher and more modern look. Additionally, we aim to make EUSynBios.org a hub for the SynBio community, with resources, news, events, and much more! 

One of the new features of the revamped website is the EUSynBioMap, a public map showcasing the academic laboratories, scattered across Europe, that are working in synthetic biology. For each lab, a description as well as keyword, are available, so that it is also possible to search and filter our database. We hope with this resource to help the whole community, from students looking for laboratories with available PhD positions, to researchers looking to kickstart new collaborations. Additionally, the map is completely community-based; this means researchers across Europe submit their laboratories to be added to the list. A great example of how the community can be of support for the other members of the community. 

Following the same principle, SynBio researchers can suggest events to be added, in addition to the one already featured, on our SynBio calendar. Here it is possible to find the upcoming conferences, webinars, talks, and other synthetic biology-related events, both organized by EUSynBioS, but as well from other organizers. By providing more exposure to SynBio events, we want to foster participation and engagement, ultimately promoting reciprocal support and collaborations in the field.

Researchers can also propose new tools to be added to our publicly available collection of informatics resources for SynBio researchers as well as volunteer to become a speaker in our EUSynBioSeminar series.

These are only some of the new features introduced on the new website. To discover them all visit us at: https://www.eusynbios.org/

3 - Past Event Updates

In July 2023, EUSynBioS had the opportunity to attend the II International Congress in Synthetic Biology, STEAM Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation in Barcelona, organized by ATG SynBio Spain, the Spanish SynBio association. We shared the work we do at EUSynBioS and our vision to connect and empower the European SynBio community. The lineup of speakers was truly remarkable and very focused on SynBio translation! We had the privilege of listening from academia visionaries, industry and venture, sharing their aspirations to add value to the SynBio ecosystem. It was such an awesome networking opportunity for all!

4 - SynbioBrewery: hackathon & community platform
 

Say hello to SynbioBrewery - the ultimate hackathon and community platform where individuals passionate about synthetic biology can connect, form teams to solve challenges, and access free entrepreneurship training sessions. Each year a thematic focus will be selected, ranging from environmental remediation, sustainable energy, healthcare and climate change mitigation. You can find more information here.

We are happy to announce that the first iteration of SynbioBrewery is now live in JOGL. The challenge theme is environmental remediation and the challenge was carefully crafted in collaboration with Argento Labs. Click here to register and join our communities in JOGL.

5 - Take part in our blog posts!

Check out our blog section to find out about the steering committee and to which conference and events they have attended in 2023! For this year, we have some blog series in mind but we need your help! Are you interested in how SynBio interfaces the world, such as how it is related to Technology, Art, Design, or Space? Or would you be interested in describing your research in plain language so that can be more accessible? Please reach us out to be featured in our blog regarding one of these topics!

6 - Upcoming Events
 

We're thrilled to announce our participation in the upcoming conference, “The Automated Scientist – the future of cell factory engineering”, by the Novo Nordisk Foundation Science Cluster in Hillerød, Denmark (11-15 March 2024). You will find us presenting a poster on the topic of “Developing highly productive biotech communities” (poster #082).

For more details about our presentations and activities at these events, stay tuned to our website's SynBio calendar. Additionally, don't forget to explore our website for information on upcoming EUSynBioSeminars and other exciting happenings in our community.

We can't wait to connect with you at these events!

7 - Social Media and Networking
 

Stay in the loop and be part of our community! Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and our EUSynBioS Hub in JOGL. 

Let's build a vibrant network together! 

🐦 Twitter: EUSynBioS

🔗 LinkedIn: EUSynBioS

🌐 Website: eusynbios.org

🌐 Others: SynbioBrewery x JOGL

8 - Social Media and Networking
 

We're eager to hear what you think about our newsletter. Share your thoughts on content, format, or any ideas for improvement. Your feedback matters!

Click here to help us improve our content.


Sincerely,
EuSynBioS steering committee