New Directions in Synthetic Biology, a symposium co-organized by Wyss Core faculty members George Church, Jim Collins, Pam Silver, William Shih, and Peng Yin, will convene on Friday, April 30, 2010 at the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. This meeting will focus on forefront research at the leading edge of the Synthetic Biology field, with an emphasis on science-driven technology development relating to medicine, sustainability, ecology, and nanotechnology. The day will end with a panel discussion of the future scientific, commercial and ethical implications of these new advances, followed by a talk by Stewart Brand, editor of The Whole Earth Catalog.