Synthetic Biology: Engineering, Evolution, & Design (SEED) Conference Session Topics

Biodesign Automation

This session will feature presentations aimed at fostering dialogue between researchers from experimental and computational synthetic biology. In addition to showcasing Bio-design Automation (BDA) approaches for biological circuit design, control, and engineering, the session will also highlight advances in AI/ML-driven design techniques and software solutions for high-throughput experimentation, characterization, and measurement.

Example topics: rapid synthetic circuit design, DBTL platforms and workflows, autonomous laboratory systems.

Cell-free Systems, Synthetic Genomes & Synthetic Cells

This session will showcase cell-free and synthetic-cell platforms that enable rapid prototyping, controllable biomanufacturing, and novel chassis for engineering. It will feature cell-free transcription-translation and metabolism, bottom-up construction of protocells/synthetic cells, genome engineering, synthesis and assembly, genome minimization and recoding, and non-natural in vitro and cellular systems, alongside application directions such as portable production and biosensing.

Example topics: TX-TL systems, cell-free metabolism, protocell platforms, genome synthesis/assembly, recoded/minimal genomes, orthogonal and non-natural systems.

Engineered Cellular Sensors, Transducers, and Actuators

This session will showcase engineered cellular systems that sense inputs, process signals, and produce programmed outputs. It will cover sensing of cell states, chemical, physical or environmental cues; signal transduction and cellular computation; and actuation of functions such as secretion, metabolic switching, differentiation, or killing.

Example topics: whole-cell biosensors, sense-and-respond circuits, CRISPR-based or optogenetic/chemogenetic regulation, cellular memory and event recorders, and synthetic patterning.

Foundational ML Models for Biology

This session will showcase foundational machine learning models trained on biological sequences, structures, multi-omics, imaging, and experimental metadata for prediction and design of synthetic biological systems. It will highlight advances in architectures and training objectives, multimodal integration, and closed-loop learning with experiments, especially studies that connect model outputs to biological function and mechanism.

Example topics: protein and genomic foundation models, multimodal biological models, generative models, fine tuning models using experimental data.

Living Medicines and Therapeutics

This session will showcase engineered biological therapeutics spanning microbes, mammalian and immune cells, and nucleic acid delivery platforms. It will highlight sensing-and-response systems, safety and containment, delivery and manufacturing, translational models, and regulatory-enabling technologies, covering applications such as microbiome therapeutics, programmable cell therapies, gene/RNA therapeutics, and next-generation biologics.

Example topics: engineered probiotics/microbiome interventions, CAR and programmable immune cells, gene/RNA delivery, safety switches and containment, in vivo biosensing, translational/clinical enabling work.

New Chemicals & Materials from Synthetic Biology

This session will showcase synthetic biology routes to new chemicals and materials with tailored properties and sustainable production. It will feature pathway and chassis engineering, enzyme discovery and design, new-to-nature chemistry and noncanonical building blocks, and bioprocess innovations for scale-up. Materials themes will include biopolymers, composites, biofabrication, and hybrid or living materials with programmable function.

Example topics: biosynthetic pathways, metabolic engineering for chemicals, noncanonical monomers, biopolymers and composites, engineered secretion, scale-up and bioprocess innovation.

Engineering Microbiomes, Ecosystems, and Non-Model Organisms

This session will showcase the expanding use of biodesign and synthetic biology studying and engineering organisms, consortia, and ecosystems associated with complex environments. Topics of interest span microbiome and ecosystem engineering, applications in agriculture and environmental remediation, and advances that enable work with non-model organisms and systems.

Nucleic Acid, Protein, Enzyme Design and Engineering

This session will showcase new capabilities in designing and engineering DNA/RNA and proteins, from regulatory elements and RNA structures to de novo proteins and optimized enzymes. It will feature computational-guided design, structure-based engineering, high-throughput screening and selection, directed evolution at scale, and mechanistic studies that reveal sequence-structure-function rules.

Example topics: protein/enzymatic function design, RNA structure/function engineering, gene/regulatory element design, directed evolution at scale, structure-guided or ML-guided design, sequence-to-function mapping.