Public Engagement

8th August 2014 - Focus Group Round 1

Our team hosted a discussion session with ten lay members of the public (i.e. without any direct experience of synthetic biology), hoping to get some initial reactions to our project. Our aim was to try to understand public perceptions of synthetic biology, and to get an idea of how far these concerns were based on misinformation/lack of understanding, as opposed to being legitimate concerns which should be considered carefully by the scientific community and should shape the direction of research in this area in the future.
Recurring themes which seemed to cause concern (regarding both synthetic biology generally and our project in particular) included:
- the possibility of escape of synthetic organisms into the natural environment
- the possibility of exchange of genetic material between synthetic and non-synthetic organisms
- concerns relating to monopolization of genetic material, particularly by large commercial organisations

[http://www.bioch.ox.ac.uk/aspsite/index.asp?pageid=1142| Biochemistry Department, Oxford ]

[http://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/univ-news/univ-students-enter-igem-competition| University College, Oxford]