From AI-designed robots to new insights on anti-cancer therapies and protein folding, CSB’s researchers broke new ground in 2023 uncovering new ways to apply synthetic biology to big challenges in human health and the environment.
Research Highlights
CSB labs were secured $7M in research funding in 2023. With 9 active research collaborations from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense, CSB researchers published 62 journal articles in the area of synthetic biology.
A few of our 2023 research highlights include:
Education and Community
With more than 300 members including 21 faculty across three Northwestern schools and over 280 students, postdocs, and researchers, CSB celebrates its talented community. This year, more than 100 people attended our in-person annual retreat to exchange pioneering approaches and ideas to budding science and a better world.
Our NSF-funded National Research Traineeship program has a total of 18 NRT PhD students from 7 graduate programs across 3 cohorts. This summer CSB hosted 11 undergraduate students from across the country to conduct synthetic biology research in our labs. In 2023, CSB hosted 27 community events including seminars, workshops, ethics conversations, and socials, as well as the Engineering Biology Research Consortium’s annual meeting in Evanston. The Farley Center also launched a course in Entrepreneurship through the lens of synthetic biology, marking a first-of-its-kind at Northwestern.
Translation and Impact
Towards translating knowledge into the world, CSB researchers collectively filed 17 patents and patent applications in 2023. In addition, CSB and Northwestern’s Querrey InQbation Lab co-hosted ‘Synthetic Biology 2.0: What Comes Next’ event that brought together thought leaders from the research, investment, startup, and corporate communities to examine and discuss the next generation of synthetic biology.