The United Kingdom's first publicly-funded centre devoted to synthetic biology, which opened on 12 May, is hoping to pre-empt public concerns about the field by integrating social scientists into its research team.

Graduate students and staff at the Centre for Synthetic Biology and Innovation at Imperial College London will be trained to consider the social and ethical implications of their research. Sociologists on the staff will also work with government and industry to develop a suitable framework for regulating the products of synthetic biology, and for making intellectual-property claims.

"If the Imperial centre works, they're going to be setting the standard for this," says Pam Silver, a synthetic-biology researcher from Harvard University.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council is providing the centre with £8 million (US$11 million) over the next 5 years.