Have you heard of synthetic biology? It's revolutionizing the field of biotechnology, yet many people aren't sure what synthetic biology is all about, or what synthetic biologists even do. Douglas Densmore, a synthetic biologist and Boston University College of Engineering associate professor of computer and electrical engineering, wants to change that by engaging future scientists-namely high school students.
The US Department of Defense is also totally on board with that idea. It has awarded a $2.3 million, three-year grant to Densmore and collaborators at BU, who will use the funds to run outreach programs that provide underserved high school students with access to pioneering biotechnology companies and a crash course in all things synthetic biology.
So what is synthetic biology? It's an area of research that designs and fabricates new biological parts, devices, and systems, often directly inspired by computer hardware and software, as well as the parts and inner workings of living cells, organisms, and other natural systems.
Synthetic biologists might, for example, create new sensing devices inspired by the way that living cells sense and respond to signals in their environment. Or, they might genetically engineer common bacteria like E. coli so that the cells could ingest pollutants and excrete environmentally neutral materials. The possibilities are endless, and synthetic biologists are developing applications that could have an impact in medicine, energy, sensing, and materials science.
Over the next three years, Densmore, along with his collaborators at BU College of Engineering, Joshua Finkelstein and Wynter Duncanson, will engage more than 600 Boston-area high school students, 100 teachers, 40 undergraduate students, and 10 graduate students in short courses on synthetic biology, research rotations, hackathons, workshops, and an international synthetic biology design competition known as International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM).
The three-year program will build on the STEM Pathways program, led by Densmore, which launched in 2015 as part of a Living Computing Project funded by the National Science Foundation. So far, STEM Pathways has provided synthetic biology research opportunities to more than 50 BU undergraduate students, outreach activities for more than 150 local K-12 students, and has directly funded 27 students on teams that won a total of four gold medals and "Best Hardware" awards at iGEM.
Densmore, Finkelstein (director of BU's Biological Design Center), and Duncanson (BU College of Engineering assistant dean of outreach and diversity) say the new program will arm an even larger and more diverse group of high schoolers with new technical and science communication skills, introduce them to a network of mentors in biotechnology, and position them to succeed in competitive college applicant pools for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degrees.
"[Our] first event-a 'mini-Jamboree,' which is an interactive day of learning to increase awareness of synthetic biology to high school students, teachers, and parents-will occur in early December," Finkelstein says. The Brink spoke with Densmore to learn more about the program and his passion for recruiting young people into pursuing STEM careers.
