The 1st International BioDesign Research Conference was held online from December 1-18, 2020. The conference was organized by Stanford University, the University of Warwick, and the journal BioDesign Research, and was convened by the journal's editors-in-chief: Alfonso Jaramillo of the University of Warwick, Stanley Qi of Stanford University, and Xiaohan Yang of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Biosystems Design is a fast-growing, interdisciplinary field seeking to improve existing biological systems or create novel biological systems based on predictable design that can address global challenges facing health, agriculture, and the environment.
The conference was organized around two general sessions and four specialized sessions covering multiple themes including 1) biodesign theories and principles, 2) biodesign methods and tools, 3) biodesign engineering (at molecular, pathway, cellular, tissue, and organism levels), 4) biodesign applications, and 5) biodesign security and ethics. The sessions proved to be a showcase for the latest achievements and research progress in biosystems design and synthetic biology and brought together many of the most influential scholars and researchers in these fields.
More than 7500 people from 87 countries registered for the sixty-four live plenary and keynote talks via Zoom by leading scholars in their fields, including six Nobel Laureates. The conference also featured thirty-five pre-recorded satellite presentations of abstracts spotlighted out of the 126 accepted for the proceedings. In addition, 106 posters were presented at the conference, with twelve selected by the experts committee for awards.
To aid in scholarship and protect intellectual property, all presentations and posters from the conference have been assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and, pending permission from the speakers, conference organizers expect most of the video presentations will continue to be available for viewing after registration. Abstracts and posters are likewise available for viewing and download on the conference website.
By popular demand, free registration is still open for those who were unable to attend the conference live. Visit the registration page here: https://www.biodesign-conference.com/registration.php
In the spirit of the conference's aim of fostering communication and interdisciplinary collaboration among scientists, more than 30 distinguished scholars joined the editorial and advisory boards of BioDesign Research.
BioDesign Research is an online-only, open access journal publishing novel research in the interdisciplinary field of biosystems design. Published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) through its Science Partner Journal (SPI) program and in affiliation with Nanjing Agricultural University, BioDesign Research features high-quality breakthrough research, reviews, editorials, and perspectives focusing on in silico biosystems design, genetic or epigenetic modification, and genome writing or rewriting in any organism. Like all partners participating in the SPI program, BioDesign Research is editorially independent from the Science family of journals. Editorial decisions and scientific activities pursued by the journal's editorial board are made independently, based on scientific merit and adhering to the highest standards for accurate and ethical promotion of science. For additional details, visit the the BioDesign Research website: https://spj.sciencemag.org/journals/bdr/.
BioDesign Research welcomes manuscript submissions and, through the support of Nanjing Agricultural University, there are no APCs for works accepted for publication prior to 2023. For manuscript submissions, please visit: https://www.editorialmanager.com/biodesignr/default.aspx.