What’s in a name?



















Synthetic biology has been used to describe many scientific activities for the past hundred years, and is still far from a concrete definition. Nature biotechnology asked 20 experts in the field how they define synthetic biology, leading to a great article that highlights many of the different pursuits of synthetic biology researchers as well as the common emphasis on engineering principles. Kristala Prather sums it up nicely in her response: “If you ask five people to define synthetic biology, you will get six answers.”