Synthetic Biology

Since 2015, the Lab has been undertaking pioneering work in Synthetic Biology education, research and innovation in Pakistan. The 2-year SynBioKP project by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was a major catalyst in developing the community primarily through Pakistan’s first two IGEM teams in 2016 and 2017, several training opportunities and hackathons and lots of school outreach. The Lab currently has a dedicated space by the name of ‘Skunkworks’ which serves as a prototyping Lab for all synthetic biology projects. On the commercial end, Averos Life Sciences, one of the earliest startups at the Lab is working in the area of biosensors and biomaterials.

Each IGEM team from the Lab has a wiki page that can be referred to here: IGEM Peshawar 2016 and 2017.

The Lab also has a small but growing bioart community happening in and around it. This was taken to the next level after Dr Faisal Khan (our PI) and Prof Rashid Rana (a world renowned artist and the Dean of SVAD) decided to roll out a hybrid studio elective course for students at the School of Art and Visual Design (SVAD) at Beaconhouse National University. This idea materialised in the Fall of 2023 when the first edition was offered that attracted 18 student of fashion, visual art, as well as IEDA – the flagship major in interdisciplinary and extended art and design. For more check the Synthetic Biology: From Bits to Atoms blog on the Community Page.