Indian Institute of Technology Madras is hosting the India-EMBO Symposium on 'Engineering meets evolution: Designing biological systems' from 30th January to 1st February 2020. The event brought together leading scientists, researchers, and first-stage research scholars to discuss the advances and latest research findings in the field of 'Synthetic Biology' and 'Bioengineering'.

It is jointly organised by Initiative for Biological Systems Engineering (IBSE), IIT Madras, and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).

The aim of the India-EMBO symposium is to provide a platform to the research community for exchanging ideas, discussing challenges encountered and sharing research experiences. It focused on various aspects of bioengineering and synthetic biology, such as:

The India-EMBO symposium will help to identify the research opportunities and priorities in bioengineering and synthetic biology. The perspective of speakers over the three days from different sectors will explain the possible future scope in this field and provide information about the funding availability and ethical considerations to ensure that the research on synthetic biology will be carried out responsibly to realise its full potential.

The interaction sessions between the research scholars and the leading scientists will benefit in promoting collaborations, analysing the bottlenecks in the research fields, and the possible innovative solutions to overcome the challenges. On a concluding note, this symposium will be a potential platform that elicits confidence among research scholars to establish their career in synthetic biology.

Delivering the Keynote address on 'thinking big: engineering SynBio interventions on a global scale,'"The environmental microbiome once improved and reprogrammed with the tools of synthetic biology, can become our main ally to fight climate change," said, Dr. Victor de Lorenzo, Group Leader, Molecular Environmental Microbiology Laboratory, National Centre for Biotechnology (CNB), Spain

About EMBO:

EMBO is an organisation that comprises 1,800 active leading researchers who support excellence in life sciences. The primary goals of EMBO are to endorse talented researchers, aid in building a better research environment, and promote the exchange of scientific ideas and information.

Several contributions through short courses, workshops, conferences, and press publications support EMBO to maintain high standards of excellence in research practice.

About IIT Madras:

IIT Madras has been designated as one of the premier centres for basic and applied research, technical education, and industrial collaborations in India. The internationally recognised faculties, talented student's pool, and intensive research contribute to achieving the pre-eminent status of IIT Madras. IIT Madras houses 16 departments and a few advanced research centres in various disciplines.

About IBSE:

IBSE is an interdisciplinary group that works on developing innovative methodologies to integrate multi-omics data to understand, predict, and manipulate complex biological systems.

The research undertaken at IBSE includes the study of gene-gene and gene-host interactions in order to unravel the genotype to phenotype map that facilitates adaptation in yeast and the study of design principles for building synthetic biological parts. The students at IITM have been active participants at the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition, which is a premier competition for building synthetic biological parts.

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IIT Madras Hosts International convention on 'Synthetic Biology' - India Today