EVENT 2025

Out of the Ordinary:
Thinking outside the SynBio toolbox

Exchange ideas, and explore opportunities to collaborate within academia, society, and industry. From insightful talks and panel discussions to engaging networking sessions and flash talks, this event offers a dynamic platform to propel your synthetic biology initiatives forward.

DATE: 2nd May 2025

TIME: 10:00 to 17:30h

LOCATION: Utrecht University

Program

10:00 – 10:30: Registration and welcome coffee

10:30 – 10:40: Opening of the event

10:40 – 11:55: Plenary session 1: Out of the ordinary SynBio in Dutch Academia

  • Margarita Bernal Cabas (RuG): Developing of a Modular Workflow to Engineer Xanthobacter SoF1 for Recombinant Food Protein Production from Air and Renewable Energy

  • Sebastian Wenk (RuG): Evolution-assisted engineering of formate assimilation in Escherichia coli

  • Josiah Passmore (UU): Outcome-Driven Microscopy: Closed-Loop Optogenetic Control of Cell Biology

11:55 – 12:15: Flash talks session 1

  • Niels van de Sande (iGEM Wageningen) – Seeding the seeds: producing functionalized seed coats from bacterial cellulose to improve agricultural yields

  • Yanli Xu (Groningen University) – Generation of Various Semaglutide Variants by Combining RiPPs Technology and Amber Stop Codon Incorporation

  • Thijs de Vroet (Groningen University) – A new platform to study novel antifungals: how competitive growth screens and smart chemostats help us understand yeast killer toxins

  • Owen Terpstra (Groningen University) – Secretion of milk protein using hydrogen oxidizing bacterium Xantobacter SoF1

  • Alexandra Andrei (iGEM Groningen) – Innovating Antibiotic Resistance Detection with Cas13

12:15 – 13:00: Lunch and networking

13:00 – 14:40: Plenary session 2: From out-of-the-box idea to reality

  • LenioBio – Charles Williams: A scalable, eukaryotic cell-free protein production technology accelerating vaccine and therapeutic development

  • Cradle – Nicolò Baldi: Generative AI for better proteins

  • PortalBiotech – Luca Mantovanelli: Next-generation protein sequencing

  • Florian Haensel – GASB (German Association for Synthetic Biology)

  • Sonia Mecacci – EuSynBioS (European Synthetic Biology Society)

14:40 – 15:00: Flash talks session 2

  • Anne Hakkert (iGEM Utrecht) – A step forward towards autonomous drug delivery

  • Leonard Bäcker (Groningen University) – Genetic switches behind time-resolved transcriptional programming

  • Nynke Boiten (Groningen University) – Mapping conceptualizations of life for the synthetic cell

  • Laura Catón (TU Delft) – Bioengineering Bacterial Photonic Crystals: A novel colour generation

  • Madelief Verwiel (TU Eindhoven) – Engineering of compartments in synthetic cells

  • Yiğitcan Sümbelli (TU Eindhoven) – 3D organelle printing: Internal photopatterning of complex coacervate artificial cells

15:00 – 15:30: Coffee break and networking

15:30 – 16:30: Plenary session 3: “Synbio: Pandora’s Toolbox?”

  • Laura Elidedt Rodríguez (Artist-in-residence): Exploring the intersection between art, science, and technology

  • Julia Rijssenbeek (WUR): Investigating how synthetic biology might disrupt ideas and values, as well as what a bio-based future may bring

16:30 – 17:15: Interactive session: “A futuristic SynBio challenge”

  • Panel: Laura Elidedt Rodríguez (WUR), Julia Rijssenbeek (WUR), Cécile van der Vlugt (RIVM)

17:15 – 17:30: Closing remarks and takeaways

17:30 – 19:00: Traditional group picture, borrel and more networking

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