Centre for Synthetic Biology and the Bioeconomy

Past Seminars

Embedding Responsibility and Security in Synthetic Biology

Prof Lionel Clarke, Co-Chair UK Synthetic Biology Leadership Council

Date/Time: 21st of August 2018, 13:00-14:00

Venue: tba

Abstract:
 
Responsible Research and Innovation was identified as a key feature to be developed in the UK Synthetic Biology Roadmap 2012.  In this seminar Lionel Clarke shall consider how it is being pursued, issues arising and how well it is becoming embedded within academic research centres in the UK. He shall also describe a national approach to addressing potential biosecurity concerns that is being introduced this year, and consider how this might best be communicated and rolled-out within the synthetic biology community in Newcastle and beyond.
 
Biography:
 
Lionel Clarke co-chairs the UK Synthetic Biology Leadership Council (SBLC), having issued the UK Synthetic Biology Roadmap in July 2012 and ‘Biodesign for the Bioeconomy’ a Strategic Plan for UK Synthetic Biology, in 2016. He is an Advisory Board member to BEIS, developing a strategy for the Bioeconomy as a major contribution towards the UK Industrial Strategy. He sits on external advisory boards in several universities including Imperial, Manchester and Nottingham, is a member of an EPSRC strategic advisory team and of a Royal Academy of Engineering panel for Engineering Biology. He was an advisor to the US National Research Council study ‘Industrialization of Biology’ 2015. He is a visiting professor in the Department of Bioengineering in Imperial College and holds an honorary chair in the University of Manchester. He was recently awarded an OBE for Service to Synthetic Biology.
 
He is involved with several start-up companies including BionerG, Orthios Carbon Solutions and C3 Biotechnologies Ltd, drawing upon his previous academic experience at Imperial College, Cambridge and Grenoble and his lengthy industrial experience with Shell, where he formed numerous academic and industrial partnerships to take innovative ideas for better fuels and technologies from laboratory through to global markets.