Working to build

S.01

what we cannot yet imagine.

How we see
our work

Working to build

S.01

what we cannot yet imagine

How we see
our work

Working to build

what we cannot yet imagine

The Sociotechnical StudioA Brief Introduction

People make technologies. People with different histories, points of view, and priorities. People with different stories and hopes about what the future should be. These imaginations, values, and perspectives are built into the ways that technologies are designed. How do we imagine together?

Our team works with ideas and tools from design, science communication, and science and technology studies to imagine and catalyze better futures with synthetic biology. We are writers and communicators, designers and brand builders, marketers and business strategists, community builders and policy thinkers. We do lots of things that any other marketing and PR team might do at a company, but we also do a lot of things that might look different. This website highlights a selection of our projects and introduces you to our team and approach.

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A brief introduction
to our team

The Sociotechnical Studio
A Brief Introduction

People make technologies. People with different histories, points of view, and priorities. People with different stories and hopes about what the future should be. These imaginations, values, and perspectives are built into the ways that technologies are designed. How do we imagine together?

Our team works with ideas and tools from design, science communication, and science and technology studies to imagine and catalyze better futures with synthetic biology. We are writers and communicators, designers and brand builders, marketers and business strategists, community builders and policy thinkers. We do lots of things that any other marketing and PR team might do at a company, but we also do a lot of things that might look different. This website highlights a selection of our projects and introduces you to our team and approach.

Synthetic BiologyA Brief History

Biology begins four billion years ago, with a single cell, a tiny bubble containing the code that enabled it to assemble and reproduce itself. But, importantly, that process of reproduction wasn’t perfect; each copy introduced new mutations in the code. These changes are responsible for one of the most powerful and defining features of biology: evolution.

A vibrant abstract illustration of a biological ecosystem.
Biological systems, and our relationships to them, have been evolving for thousands of years.

Over eons, that first cell and all its progeny propagated their genetic code evolved to create new functions: to eat new kinds of foods and to produce new kinds of chemicals, structures, and behaviors. As life became more, well, interactive, organisms developed tools to borrow genetic code from each other, accelerating the pace of evolution. These functions, the genetic code programming the functions, stuck around when they helped the organisms survive and create more descendants. This went on and on, leaving us an entire planet of genetic code that enables the diversity of life forms we see on the planet today.

Synthetic biology’s story begins mere decades ago, as biologists began to decode the molecular secrets of DNA. The billions-year old tools of cells—enzymes that cut, copy, and paste sequences of DNA code—are now being leveraged by humans to read, write, and edit DNA in the lab. Polymerases that copy DNA are used to enable PCR tests for COVID-19 and the CRISPR/Cas system from bacteria now enables editing of human genomes to potentially cure genetic diseases.

Today synthetic biologists are using these tools to learn from the full breadth of evolution and biodiversity to write new biological code. Simple soil bacteria produce everything from antibiotics to the smell of fresh rain. We can reuse elements of the DNA that runs these programs to make new products. Biochemistry is extraordinarily versatile; we've reused DNA libraries across applications as diverse as fine fragrances, baking, and consumer electronics. We may be able to develop programs that can undo new human-made “forever chemicals” and chemical bonds that biology has never evolved to encounter previously.

As cell programmers, we operate with humility and respect for biology. Our tools are borrowed; the history of biotechnology is a mere blink of an eye compared to the history of living things.

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A brief overview of
biological evolution

Synthetic Biology
A Brief History

Biology begins four billion years ago, with a single cell, a tiny bubble containing the code that enabled it to assemble and reproduce itself. But, importantly, that process of reproduction wasn’t perfect; each copy introduced new mutations in the code. These changes are responsible for one of the most powerful and defining features of biology: evolution.

A vibrant abstract illustration of a biological ecosystem.
Biological systems, and our relationships to them, have been evolving for thousands of years.

Over eons, that first cell and all its progeny propagated their genetic code evolved to create new functions: to eat new kinds of foods and to produce new kinds of chemicals, structures, and behaviors. As life became more, well, interactive, organisms developed tools to borrow genetic code from each other, accelerating the pace of evolution. These functions, the genetic code programming the functions, stuck around when they helped the organisms survive and create more descendants. This went on and on, leaving us an entire planet of genetic code that enables the diversity of life forms we see on the planet today.

Synthetic biology’s story begins mere decades ago, as biologists began to decode the molecular secrets of DNA. The billions-year old tools of cells—enzymes that cut, copy, and paste sequences of DNA code—are now being leveraged by humans to read, write, and edit DNA in the lab. Polymerases that copy DNA are used to enable PCR tests for COVID-19 and the CRISPR/Cas system from bacteria now enables editing of human genomes to potentially cure genetic diseases.

Today synthetic biologists are using these tools to learn from the full breadth of evolution and biodiversity to write new biological code. Simple soil bacteria produce everything from antibiotics to the smell of fresh rain. We can reuse elements of the DNA that runs these programs to make new products. Biochemistry is extraordinarily versatile; we've reused DNA libraries across applications as diverse as fine fragrances, baking, and consumer electronics. We may be able to develop programs that can undo new human-made “forever chemicals” and chemical bonds that biology has never evolved to encounter previously.

As cell programmers, we operate with humility and respect for biology. Our tools are borrowed; the history of biotechnology is a mere blink of an eye compared to the history of living things.

Where We Come In
Our Studio

Biology has been innovating since life on Earth began. And now, synthetic biology is building on that foundation towards a health, manufacturing, and environmental revolution four billion years in the making. That revolution is still in the making, and the future of synthetic biology is being shaped every day by how we think about it.

That's where the work of our studio comes in. Together with engineers, biologists, artists, writers, and more, we’re dreaming about a world designed with biology. At the same time, we're working across social, technical, and cultural disciplines to shape design, policy, and storytelling towards a biological future that is more open, equitable, and sustainable.

That's why our team makes work that spans everything from the creative to the literary to the political. We make campaigns (I Love G.M.O.), objects (Amber Awards), and a magazine about synthetic biology (Grow Magazine).

Like biological systems, the types of projects we explore are constantly evolving. Above all else, we're interested in exploring generative ideas that encourage conversation about our biological world and the kinds of world we might want to live in.

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Our role exploring
design & policy

Where We Come In
Our Studio

Biology has been innovating since life on Earth began. And now, synthetic biology is building on that foundation towards a health, manufacturing, and environmental revolution four billion years in the making. That revolution is still in the making, and the future of synthetic biology is being shaped every day by how we think about it.

That's where the work of our studio comes in. Together with engineers, biologists, artists, writers, and more, we’re dreaming about a world designed with biology. At the same time, we're working across social, technical, and cultural disciplines to shape design, policy, and storytelling towards a biological future that is more open, equitable, and sustainable.

That's why our team makes work that spans everything from the creative to the literary to the political. We make campaigns (I Love G.M.O.), objects (Amber Awards), and a magazine about synthetic biology (Grow Magazine).

Like biological systems, the types of projects we explore are constantly evolving. Above all else, we're interested in exploring generative ideas that encourage conversation about our biological world and the kinds of world we might want to live in.

Naturetechnocultural Change
Our Approach

Ginkgo Bioworks has a mission to make biology easier to engineer. The Sociotechnical Studio recognizes that making biology easier to engineer is more than just a technological challenge. We see it as a social and technical challenge—that is one that spans the disciplines of the social, the technological, and the cultural.

That's why we aspire to make work that operates across disciplines—led by the biological, inspired by the technological, and engaging with culture to create stories about synthetic biology in the world.

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Philosophy & approach
to our industry

Naturetechnocultural Change
Our Approach

Ginkgo Bioworks has a mission to make biology easier to engineer. The Sociotechnical Studio recognizes that making biology easier to engineer is more than just a technological challenge. We see it as a social and technical challenge—that is one that spans the disciplines of the social, the technological, and the cultural.

That's why we aspire to make work that operates across disciplines—led by the biological, inspired by the technological, and engaging with culture to create stories about synthetic biology in the world.