Engineering Biology

Technical Themes

The technical themes of the roadmap focus on four key areas of engineering biology research and development. Each technical theme has a series of transformative tools and technologies – platform technical areas in which advancement is both necessary and will have a significant impact on revolutionizing the field – and aspirational goals that drive the progression of research and development. Construction of the technical roadmap is accomplished through delineation of milestones at 2, 5, 10, and 20 years and each milestone is elaborated by anticipated or imagined bottlenecks and creative potential solutions. The 2-year and 5-year milestones are intended to signify objectives that can be reached with current or recently implemented funding programs, as well as existing infrastructure and facilities resources. The 10-year and 20-year milestones are expected to be more ambitious achievements that may require (and thus, result in) significant technical advancements and/or increased funding and resources and new and improved infrastructure. The goals and breakthrough capabilities therefore represent the visionary 20+ year aspirations for the technical themes.

Engineering DNA
Gene Editing, Synthesis, and Assembly focuses on the development and advancement of tools to enable the production of chromosomal DNA and the engineering of entire genomes.
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Biomolecular Engineering
Biomolecule, Pathway, and Circuit Engineering focuses on the engineering of functional macromolecules, design of complex circuits and pathways, and regulatory system dynamics.
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Host Engineering
Host and Consortia Engineering focuses on the advancements required for the engineering of cell-free systems, host cells, and organisms, and the integration and interaction of these systems and the environment.
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Data Science
Data Integration, Modeling, and Automation focuses on robust, systematic use of the design, build, test, learn methodology to create complex systems.
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