[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 56 (Tuesday, March 24, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15563-15564]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-06839]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology


Synthetic Biology Standards Consortium--Kick-off Workshop

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), Department 
of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public workshop.

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SUMMARY: NIST announces the Synthetic Biology Standards Consortium 
(SBSC)--Kick-off Workshop to be held on Tuesday March 31, 2015 from 9 
a.m.-4:30 p.m. Pacific time. The SBSC will be convened as a standards 
setting consortium focused on the shared standards development needs of 
consortium participants. It will provide safe harbor for collaborative 
work through the formation of technical standards-setting working 
groups.

[[Page 15564]]

Successful working groups will be organized around a clear vision of 
specific metrology products--standards, including reference materials, 
reference data, reference methods, and documentary standards--that will 
enable interoperability and reproducibility. The goal of the workshop 
is to identify several initial working groups with critical mass, 
leadership teams, and a clear path forward to deliver standards that 
support the growth of the bioeconomy.

DATES: The Synthetic Biology Standards Consortium Kick-Off meeting will 
be held on Tuesday, March 31, 2015 from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Pacific time.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at Li Ka Shing Conference Center at 
Stanford University, 291 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305. To register, 
go to http://tinyurl.com/sbsc-0315. There is no registration fee. Space 
is limited so please register early. Travel and parking information can 
be found on the registration page listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact 
Matthew Munson by email at [email protected] or by phone at (650) 690-
6761, or Sarah Munro by email at [email protected] or by phone at (650) 
690-6796, or Marc Salit by email at [email protected] or by phone at (650) 
350-2338.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Synthetic biology will realize its full 
contributions to the bioeconomy when a robust metrology infrastructure 
is in place to enable coordination of labor and reuse of materials. 
Metrology products--standards, including reference materials, reference 
data, reference methods, and documentary standards--can enable 
business-to-business transactions at scale. The NIST-hosted Synthetic 
Biology Standards Consortium (SBSC) will collectively build the 
infrastructure to support a fully integrated global synthetic biology 
enterprise. NIST will provide standards development support for some 
consortium activities, as well as facilitation and technical 
leadership.
    The SBSC will be convened as a standards setting consortium focused 
on the shared standards development needs of consortium members. It 
will provide safe harbor for collaborative work through the formation 
of technical standards-setting working groups. Successful working 
groups will be organized around a clear vision of specific metrology 
products that will enable interoperability and reproducibility.
    Example metrology products might include a reference material such 
as a standard proteome set from whole cell lysates to be used as a 
benchmark for mass spectroscopy; reference data such as a DNA watermark 
repository; a reference method for DNA sequence verification; and a 
documentary standard for minimum information standards for biological 
protocol interoperability.
    The goal of the workshop is to identify several initial working 
groups with critical mass, leadership teams, and a clear path forward 
to deliver standards. Participants are invited to put forth proposals--
your input is essential to the success of this work. Some candidate 
working groups are listed on the registration page. Proposals for 
working groups are strongly solicited and may be contributed via the 
workshop registration page (http://tinyurl.com/sbsc-0315), SBSC Trello 
page (http://tinyurl.com/NIST-SBSC), or email to the NIST team 
([email protected]). The portfolio of working groups and the technical 
projects within working groups will be dynamic as needs shift and 
arise.
    At present, we expect that the workshop will conclude with:

 A prioritized list of working groups with well-defined 
customers, scope, and initial products
 Working group leadership teams to begin to coordinate 
technical implementation
 A plan for continued engagement within the consortium, 
including ways of working together
 Establishment of consortium operations, e.g., steering 
committee and advisory board

    The SBSC--Kick-off Workshop will be held on Tuesday March 31, 2015 
from 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Pacific time. The workshop will be held in the 
Li Ka Shing Conference Center at Stanford University in Stanford, 
California. To register, go to http://tinyurl.com/sbsc-0315. There is 
no registration fee. Space is limited so please register early. Travel 
and parking information can be found on the registration page listed 
above.
    There is no cost for participating in the consortium or the 
workshop. No proprietary information will be shared at the workshop.

Richard Cavanagh,
Acting Associate Director for Laboratory Programs.
[FR Doc. 2015-06839 Filed 3-20-15; 4:15 pm]
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