Automation of Synthetic Biology design cycle using standards and standard workflows

The iterative design cycle: design -> build -> test -> learn, is used by many engineering disciplines. It has made its way to Synthetic Biology too, where the design process is even more challenging due to the complexity of circuits / parts and the experimental nature of the field. Recently, increased effort has been put into automation of some of its steps by both academia and industry. However, to date, what dominates, are the ad-hoc approaches, with little or no standardisation of data and protocols between the cycle stages.

In this talk, I will describe my work on exploring problems in data integration and the automation of workflows in the Synthetic Biology design cycle. I will discuss the role of standards, and how we could bridge the gap between software and biological specialist, and move towards automated design.