Cool talk alert: What you need to know about the fast-moving world of synthetic biology

Do you ever miss college? Sometimes, I wish I could go back to college and be not such a 19-year-old. But, alas, this is the way of things.
But it doesn’t have to be! Genspace, the reigning Maker Space of the Year in Brooklyn, is offering a pretty dang collegey sounding lecture Thursday night in Downtown Brooklyn: Intellectual Property, Synthetic Biology, and Creativity.

Franklin Abrams will introduce intellectual property law and the basic concepts, and will discuss intellectual property law as it applies to synthetic biology. From there we will consider the community ethos and models of collaborative sharing that favor open source or open innovation approaches to facilitate advances in synthetic biology. These approaches will be compared and contrasted with an intellectual property law based approach to promoting creativity and implementation of synthetic biology inventions.

Abrams is a partner at the boutique IP law firm Springut Law PC, where he focuses on patent law with an emphasis on the technical areas of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and the chemical arts.
We’ve witnessed a rise in synthetic biology in tech in Brooklyn in recent months. One of our favorite stories from last year was about a company that’s trying to make the perfect coffee by selecting different bacteria with which to ferment it. If it succeeds, Afineur will have created something completely new in the coffee world, and could take their method to loads of other fermentable products.
Among the largest startups in Brooklyn is Modern Meadow, which makes synthetic leather, and which raised $40 million in July.
“Biofabrication enables us to grow nature’s materials using living cells instead of animals,” according to the company. “We grow collagen, a protein you find in animal skin, from which we create a leather ‘hide.’ Depending on the desired features, we design and engineer the material to deliver the right structural and aesthetic properties. We then tan and finish it through an efficient, ecologically mindful process to give the material its final character.”
The Genspace event promises a post-talk debate, and question and answer session over wine. And, quite unlike college, it’s all free.
RSVP below.
http://www.meetup.com/Brooklyn-Biohackers/events/233825486/