00 Prologue

Last year, as I led the team ABOA 2023 into the iGEM competition as one of the co-leaders, the most common questions I faced from my family and friends were “What does synthetic biology mean?, “Why is this important?”, “Who even does that?”. Sometimes my loved ones did not even bother to ask the question as the term seemed too utopic, scary even. The fact that not many people are familiar with the field also complicates the fundraising for the team as well as makes it difficult to get assistance from experts without hesitation. 

 

With this blog series, we team ABOA alumni and the new board of ABOA Turku ry aim to provide insight of the field and popularize it. The field of synthetic biology is amid turbulent development and we are looking forward to legislation changes that enable more versatile use of the science. 

 

In the first text we will answer the previous questions, asked by our near and dear. We already use many biology based solutions in our everyday life. Yet, to create a more sustainable world for us all, we have to shift into biobased tomorrow. With the means of synthetic biology, this may be possible. 

 

In this series we also discuss what kind of theses are written on the subject here in Turku. Also, we want to look into the studies done at Universities and research institutes in the whole of Finland. Finally, we will see in which companies or institutes a student of the biofield might become employed in and hear the final words from the gurus.

 

First blog will be here soon! Stay on board and meanwhile join our team to support team ABOA 2024 on its way to the iGEM competition and give us a helping hand organizing the Nordic iGEM Conference here in Turku this summer.

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Sincerely,

Sara Makkonen