SynCell2025
The International Conference on Engineering Synthetic Cells and Organelles SynCell2025 will take place on September 9 to 11 2025 at Stanford University campus.
All info, program and registration available here: buildacell.org/syncell2025
What is Build-A-Cell?
Cells are the fundamental "building blocks" that make up living organisms. Yet, we don't know exactly how cells were formed in the first place. We also don't know what all the molecules that make up any natural cell do. Finally, we can't yet put molecules together ourselves to make new synthetic cells.
Addressing the questions and challenges posed above requires significant collaboration and cooperation. The Build-a-Cell community welcomes all who wish to learn about and cooperate in the work of fully understanding and engineering a diversity of synthetic cells.
The future of biotechnology is in realizing fully understood, lineage agnostic organisms, beginning with single cells.
Building cells is hard. But, if we could better work together, then we should be able to build many cells for many purposes. Build-A-Cell is an open community supporting people working together to build a diversity of synthetic cells.
Why did we start Build-A-Cell?
Want to know more? Here’s a current, but brief overview of the synthetic cell field.
Comprehensive roadmap, summarizing recent progress, and defining the most urgent needs of our field: Building Synthetic Cells─From the Technology Infrastructure to Cellular Entities, ACS SynBio, March 26, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.3c00724
Requests for Comment
RFC Editors: Anton Jackson-Smith and Alexis Casas
The Build a Cell RFC series provides a forum for the development and sharing of projects, tools, data, and information relevant to the Build a Cell and broader global cell-building communities, at a faster pace with fewer barriers to participation than journal based publication. The series accepts all content relevant to building cells, including conceptual ideas, protocols, best practices, results (positive and negative), and general information. For further information, see RFC 0.
RFCs for Building Cells
Anton Jackson-Smith & Alexis Casas
Details the process and motivation for the Build a Cell RFC series.
Proposals for Integration Projects from WS10 Integration
Workshop #10 Integration Working Group
Reports on the integration working group projects developed at Build a Cell Workshop #10 at the University of Minneapolis, MN. The RFC also lays out specific project proposal developed by WG subgroups at the workshop, which serve as a basis for needs-finding for required integration capacities and as a foundation for ongoing integration projects.
Build-A-Cell holds regular working meetings to drive the field forward.
WORKSHOPS
What are the Build a Cell Workshops?
Since 2017, Build a Cell has organized collaborative working meetings across the United States. Operating on the principle of “rough consensus and running codons”, the meetings are a space to share the forefront of cell-building research, brainstorm new ideas, establish and continue collaborations, and get collaborative work done in person. Build a Cell workshops have an open invitation policy—if you’re interested in the science, engineering, industry, ethics, or any other aspects of cell-building, we would love to see you there. Travel funding is available.
When are the Build A Cell Workshops?
Build a Cell workshops run approximately every six months, and are hosted by a rotating group of collaborators.
Full schedule and information about all workshops is here.
Build-a-Cell organizes two types of workshops: bi-annual large, all hands meetings, and thematic mini-workshops exploring single specific topic.
All workshops are open to all members and friends of Build-a-Cell community.
All workshops are free, there is no registration fee.
Mini-workshops on specific topics
Biosecurity Workshop I - considering safety and security of engineering synthetic cells. Link to workshop page.
Chemical Reaction Network modeling tutorials - link to info, recording and syllabus.
Find resources and information for building cells.
Synthetic cells 101
Collaboration
We believe in open source science and engineering, and collaborative development. Visit our engineering project for technical information, data, and analysis. Get in touch by joining the Slack.
If you’re interested in synthetic life research and would like to work with us, check out the job postings.
Working Groups
Most of Build-a-Cell activities happens in working groups. If you are interested in joining any of the working groups, contact the group lead.
If you’re curious why we’re doing what we’re doing, you can read about why we started Build-A-Cell.
We meet every week for online seminars.
Build-a-Cell seminar series
Build-a-cell seminar series
The virtual journal club / research seminar series features weekly talks on all things synthetic cell engineering.
Everyone can join, and anybody is invited to volunteer to give a seminar or discuss a paper.
If you want to be notified about schedule and changes to the seminars, sign up here
Full seminar schedule is available here. If you would like to present a paper or your own research, please sign up here: seminar application form
Connecting researchers at all stages of career.
Build-a-Cell mentorship program
Build-a-cell mentorship program
The Build-a-Cell community mentorship program connects people at different stages of career to share advice and experience.
Anybody can be a mentor! Most people have experience to share with those junior to them. If you are grad student, you could mentor an undergrad, etc.
Training future builders of cells
The Build-a-Cell community mentorship program connects people at different stages of career to share advice and experience.
Anybody can be a mentor! Most people have experience to share with those junior to them. If you are grad student, you could mentor an undergrad, etc.
Join
If you are willing to be a mentor, or if you are looking for connection to mentors, please sign up here.
The practicalities of mentorship
The mechanics of the relationship between mentor and mentee are up to you. We are asking everyone to be respectful, and please be clear with your expectations and your availability.
If something is not working out, please let us know immediately.
The minimum of mentoring through this program is one real-time meeting (virtual, teleconference meeting). We ask for face to face interactions in the spirit of Build-a-Cell emphasizing personal connections. You can continue meeting for as long as you want, exchange emails or work out other forms of interactions after the first original meeting. Or the one meeting could be all you need, and the relationship ends there.
The end
Both mentor and mentee can end the relationship at any point. You don’t owe your mentor or mentee anything except respect. If a partner asks you to stop the Build-a-Cell mentorship relationship, please respect that wish and do not contact him or her about this project anymore.
You express willingness to spend time on the mentoring relationship, making a promise based on your needs and availability at the time you sign up. We ask everyone to understand that availability and needs can change, and person who was once available to mentor or in need of mentoring might not be in that situation few weeks or months later.
Some mentor - mentee pairs might also turns out to be a bad fit, with different career goals or mismatched expectations about the involvement in the mentoring relationship. Please work with the understanding that your partner can move on from the mentoring program at any time.
This is not a job fair
This project is not designed to connect you with a future PI or recruit people into your lab. If you are looking for a lab in synthetic cell engineering, you are better off contacting professors directly.
If a mentor ends up hiring mentee, we will celebrate this as matchmaking success of our mentorship program (please let us know if this happens!). But this is not the major goal.
Mentors:
At minimum, we are asking for 1 meeting with your mentee. During this meeting, you establish what the mentee needs, what can you provide, and you discuss a path forward. You can continue meeting or corresponding regularly, if that’s what you both wish. It’s possible you can answer all questions and give advice on specific issues during that one meeting, or you can continue your relationship through more meetings and/or follow up communication.
In this project, like in most Build-a-Cell activities, we emphasize personal connections. That’s why we ask you to schedule a real time meeting, not conclude the whole relationship over emails. Obviously most meetings will be via teleconference, because of our geographic diversity and the pandemic.
Signing up as a mentor, you declare you are open to be paired with mentee until you cancel your involvement with the program. We will always check in with you before pairing you with a new person, so you can put a stop on taking new mentorship obligations at any time.
People receiving mentoring:
Signing up for the program, it is assumed you will be paired with one mentor. If you need more help, please contact us.
Please be very clear about your expectations with your mentor: do you need help on a specific issue, or a general career advice?
If you want advice on specific issue, describe it clearly. For example, ask how to get into grad school, or how to find a job in industry?
If you want a general career advice, please say so - the mentor will guide the conversation. It’s ok to not know exactly what questions you need to ask. The mentor will help you figure it out. Good general career advice conversation starter would be to ask your mentor about his or her career path.
We will pair you with a mentor based on mentors availability, taking into account your research interests and geography. We cannot guarantee matching you with a particular mentor. If you care about talking to a specific person in synthetic cell community, you should email him or her directly.
Moving the field forward
Build-a-Cell working groups
Build-a-cell working groups
Most of Build-A-Cell activities are coordinated by working groups.
If you would like to join a working group or talk to group leaders, let us know through this form.
You can join any active working group. Some groups are actively soliciting new members, but you can get in touch with any group to see if they need a hand.
Build-A-Cell is an open collaboration working across the country and institutional divides.
TEAM
Who we are
Steering group, people responsible for all mistakes
Members and contributors, people getting the work done.
Worldwide collaborators, because building life is an international goal.
If you want to join the community working with one of the Build-A-Cell member labs, see job postings.
Build-A-Cell is looking for a coordinator! Details here.
Ready to help?
Get involved
