Education in Synthetic Biology

It is about twenty years since Synthetic Biology suddenly emerged in the biotechnology panorama with its strongly innovative features, tools, and goals, and, to date, it already counts a large number of practitioners, several diversified and complementary approaches, dedicated departments, and research centers, specific grants distributed at national and international levels, scholarly journals, and especially a recognition – in society – as one of the most exciting scientific and technological developments of the new century.

Synthetic Biology research represents a frontier whose promises refer to basic and applied science, biotechnology and industrial bioproduction, and biomedical research, attracting interests from bioeconomy to sustainability, or from personalized nanomedicine to biomaterials/bioprocesses engineering.

A large number of scientists identify themselves as “synthetic biologists”, but it has happened that their role in the field stems from personal formation routes, whose starting points are very diverse backgrounds: biology, biotechnology, bioengineering, chemistry, and material sciences. Such a spectrum of different backgrounds and disciplines is typically found in young research areas, those that tackle interesting problems but still lack a kind of more structured pathways in education.

Surely, the multifaceted subject of Education in Synthetic Biology, which we would like to treat in this Research Topic, suggests several talking points and perspectives, aiming at training the current and the next generations of students and early-stage researchers. There is indeed a need to foster education in Synthetic Biology in order to further promote the field, and this can be done by combining various knowledge and cultural attitudes. Only in this way, it will be possible to leverage the full potential of Synthetic Biology.

In this Research Topic, we would like to discuss topics related to Synthetic Biology Education referred to people of all ages and backgrounds, from graduate students to Ph.D. students, from young to senior researchers interested in this field.

This topic will act as a resource for all actors that find themselves at ease in the wide Synthetic Biology arena. In this Research Topic, we welcome manuscripts that help to address important and general questions in Synthetic Biology. For example:

 What is the theory behind Synthetic Biology? In which respect Synthetic Biology can be defined as a research field? Are there examples of peculiar traits that specifically refer to Synthetic Biology?
 What are effective didactic methods for teaching students how to study, model, understand, and manipulate biological systems?
 What are the core scientific concepts and how can they be taught and learned to serve in the context of Synthetic Biology?
 What is the role and relevance of inter- trans- cross-disciplinary thinking and approaches for Synthetic Biology?

We welcome contributions on the above-mentioned topics and related ones in the form of original research, review, mini review, case report, hypothesis and theory, perspective, and experimental studies that cover but are not limited to, the above-mentioned themes and questions. We encourage authors, whenever possible, to make available data and tools that can be used for educational purposes.