What is fabriCELL?

fabriCELL brings together the artificial-cell science community at Imperial College London and beyond. Our objective is to explore the creative design of artificial cellular devices from living and non-living components, foster new thinking in bio design and ultimately inspire the development of next-generation intelligent materials and biomedical technologies.

Bottom-up synthetic biology

Bottom-up synthetic biology aims to construct biomimetic entities – artificial cells – from rationally combined non-living components. These constructs are designed to exhibit complex responses which are the hallmark of life, and promise to revolutionise biological research through a ‘learning by building’ approach and catalyse game-changing applications in therapeutics, diagnostics, regenerative medicine, green synthesis, and bioremediation. 

Our mission

fabriCELL is the first UK network for the promotion, development, consolidation, and translation of bottom-up synthetic biology. The network acts as a flag to gather around for the UK and international artificial cell community, thanks to our >30 affiliates at Imperial College London and partnership with King’s College London and many other institutions in the UK and overseas.

The mission of fabriCELL is enabled by a unique ecosystem at the new Imperial College White City Campus, co-locating the state-of-the-art infrastructure of the £180M Molecular Sciences Research Hub (MSRH) with the molecular prototyping facilities of the Imperial College Advanced Hackspace and the translational expertise at the nearby biomedical campus. In addition, fabriCELL is actively engaged with the thriving SME community in the White City area – one of the fastest-growing in the country which is a hothouse for bottom-up synthetic biology innovation. 

Training and education

fabriCELL offers training opportunities at MSc, MRes and PhD level at our affiliate centres: