Conference explores Bay Area's hot new field of synthetic biology

With its young roots firmly secured in Bay Area universities, this new science aims to transform genetic approaches to research in medicine, energy and agriculture — building microbes that kill cancer, yeast that produces fuel or spiders that spin Kevlar-strength thread.

At the weekend's first-ever "Convergence '08'' conference at Mountain View's Computer History Museum, leaders will exchange news from the front lines of research, hoping to excite the public about synthetic biology in the same way that developers of integrated circuits in the 1960s ignited the field of semiconductor electronics. The conference will also feature debates on nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and longevity.

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