From the Desk of Aakriti Jain, New Community Editor
Hey Everyone! My name is Aakriti Jain and I am the newest Community Editor for the PLOS Synthetic Biology site. I am currently a Master’s student at the Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity in Paris, France as well as a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. I am an engineer by training, but am very interested in systems and synthetic biology. As an engineer who is interested in molecular biology, I am very excited by the modular approach of synthetic biology. It is fascinating that synthetic biology works towards standardizing and rationalizing a field as complicated as biology. Furthermore, I love the interdisciplinary nature of synthetic biology. It is great that there are not only traditional molecular and cellular biologists who are driving progress in this field, but also engineers, computer scientists, and even artists and designers. It is my belief that working with teams of varied expertise can really help create something that is unique and with far-reaching applications.
I am thrilled for the future of this community as well as the amazing things everyone is working on. I love the idea of community blogs since they’re easy to access and follow and a great way to stay updated on what and who is new to the field! I can’t wait to help document some of these exciting things as well as elicit interesting conversations among those in and around the field of synthetic biology. This coming week, I will be participating in and covering the 10th International iGEM Jamboree in Boston, MA. I am excited about the competition, but also about meeting people, from undergraduates to professors, interested in synthetic biology and science in general.
As a Community Editor, it is my hope to not only be able to find engaging topics to write about, but also find engaging people who will contribute their ideas and perspectives to this community. As I mentioned before, I am a firm believer of integrating disciplines and exchanging diverse ideas, and I hope that you can add your own flavor to this community; we want to hear from you! Feel free to post questions or comments below, and you can also find me on Twitter at @twitajain.