Engineering Biology Leadership Council
Bringing together funding agencies, research community, industry, government and other stakeholders for the strategic coordination of UK synthetic biology / engineering biology.
The Engineering Biology Leadership Council has been replaced by a governmental Engineering Biology Advisory Panel.
Strategic coordination in synthetic biology
The UK Government established the Engineering Biology Leadership Council (EBLC) – formerly known as the Synthetic Biology Leadership Council (SBLC) – to provide a steering structure governance body to assess progress and update recommendations and shape priorities for future implementation of the synthetic biology roadmap for the UK.
EBLC provided a visible point for strategic coordination between the funding agencies, the research community, industry, government sponsors and other stakeholders, including societal and ethical representatives.
At the end of 2023 the EBLC was replaced by the Engineering Biology Advisory Panel (EBAP), which will continue to advise and assist government on the development and delivery of the detailed action plan to follow from the National Vision for Engineering Biology.
Engineering Biology Leadership Council members
The Engineering Biology Leadership Council (EBLC) was jointly chaired by George Freeman MP and Prof Lionel Clarke, with Dana Heldt as Secretariat. Members of the EBLC now include:
- Prof Lionel Clarke (EBLC Co-Chair)
- George Freeman MP (BEIS, EBLC Co-Chair)
- Prof Richard Kitney (Imperial College London; SynbiCITE)
- Prof Dale Sanders (John Innes Centre)
- Prof Joyce Tait (Innogen Centre, University of Edinburgh)
- Dr David Tew (GSK)
- Dr Jason Vincent (Tropic Biosciences)
- Dr Dana Heldt (Innovate UK Business Connect)
- Prof Tim Daffron (University of Birmingham)
- Dr Edward Green (BIA EBAC),
- Prof Petra Oyston (DSTL),
- Dr Gordon Ford (UKRI-Innovate UK)
- Dr Rowan McKibbin (UKRI-BBSRC)
- Dr Martin Cannell (Defra)
- Hannah Williams (DiT)
- Stephanie Croker (GoS)
- Mark Renshaw (BEIS)
- Philippa Sharma (BEIS)
Legacy resources
Supporting the delivery of the engineering biology sector (June 2022)
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Building Back Better (2020)
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Synthetic Biology in the UK 2009-2019 – A Decade of Rapid Progress (2019)
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Regulation of products developed using genome editing techniques. (2018)
Download
UK Synthetic Biology Strategic Plan 2016 – Biodesign for the Bioeconomy (2016)
Download
A Strategic Roadmap for Synthetic Biology in the UK (2012)
Download
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For more information on our work in biotechnology, view our sector page and related activities.