The finals of the 5^th SynBio Challenges was successfully held at Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology (SUAT) from August 21 to 23. Hosted by the Chinese Society of Biotechnology, the event was jointly organized by Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, the Shenzhen Synthetic Biology Association, the National Industrial Innovation Center for Bio-manufacturing, and the Alliance of Open Life Science (OLSA).

Guided by the core philosophy of "Build to learn, Build to use," the competition attracted 512 teams and 3,849 young participants from nine countries, including China, Brazil, Russia, Japan and Singapore. This year, the event introduced an overseas livestream for the first time. Cumulative engagement with competition-related topics across domestic and international platforms approached 30 million, further increasing the visibility of the competition and highlighting its value and international reach as a platform that brings together young innovators from around the world.

This year's SynBio Challenges featured six major tracks：the Regular Competition, which focuses on three application areas—health, agriculture, and the chemical industry;the Bacterial Gladiator,Protein Design, and Synthetic Cell competitions, which leverage the Shenzhen Synthetic Biology Infrastructure to provide participants with automated, high-throughput experimental validation;the Responsible Life Sciences Innovation Competition, which encourages young participants to examine the ethical and social responsibilities associated with technology; and the newly introduced Corporate Challenge.

In the Corporate Challenge, leading companies including Kweichow Moutai Group, Wanhua Chemical and Anhui Huaheng Biotechnology(AHB) released 12 challenge topics based on their actual production and R&D needs. Thirty projects covered frontier areas including industrial biocatalysis, biological conversion of carbon dioxide, biosensors and AI-based fermentation process optimization. Experts from the competition's corporate expert pool evaluated the projects in terms of technical feasibility, cost control, scale-up potential and application value, and exchanged views with participating teams on follow-up experimental validation, matching with application scenarios, and project incubation. Open to students and entrepreneurial teams, the track aims to explore a new collaborative model in which "industry sets the questions and young people provide the answers," promoting closer alignment between innovation in universities and the needs of enterprises.

In his remarks, Bai Chunli, Honorary Chair of SynBio Challenges, former President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that synthetic biology, as a frontier interdisciplinary field, is an important means of fostering new quality productive forces and advancing sustainable social development. After five years of development, the competition has grown into an internationally influential science and technology event for young people and has been included in the global actions of UNESCO's "International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development".

Zhao Wei, Provost of Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology, said that synthetic biology is a key future-oriented academic field. The university provided full support for the event and created a platform for young students to engage in innovative practice in synthetic biology. "I hope the participants seize this opportunity, grow through the competition and fully unleash their innovative potential," he said.

Liu Chenli, Co-Chair of SynBio Challenges and President of the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, noted that synthetic biology integrates biology, engineering, artificial intelligence and other disciplines, and can provide more diverse solutions in medicine, agriculture, the environment and other fields. "The competition is not only about selecting winners. More importantly, it provides young students with a platform for practice and helps them turn scientific ideas into solutions that can be validated and implemented," he said.

Jin Li, Co-Chair of SynBio Challenges, President of Fudan University, Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chair of the Alliance of Open Life Science (OLSA), said that since its establishment, OLSA has remained committed to promoting cross-institutional and interdisciplinary research collaboration and the sharing of educational resources. This year's competition received broad and in-depth participation from the Alliance's core members. Going forward, OLSA will continue to leverage its platform to provide participating teams with more opportunities for international exchange and resource sharing.

Zhang Xian-En, Co-Chair of SynBio Challenges and Dean of the Faculty of Synthetic Biology at Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology, reviewed the development of synthetic biology as a discipline. He said that this year's competition had three major changes. First, its scale continued to double and its influence continued to grow. Second, a new track was introduced in which companies set challenges and students worked to solve them, allowing students to engage directly with real-world problems. Third, the competition was included in the action plan of the"International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development", bringing both new opportunities and new challenges. He described SynBio Challenges as an expo for synthetic biology, providing innovative solutions from young people for sustainable development, and encouraged participants to "show their best, demonstrate their spirit, and build friendships"through scientific competition.

Shahbaz Khan, Director and Representative of the UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia, welcomed the inclusion of SynBio Challenges in the global actions of UNESCO's"International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development". He noted that synthetic biology can contribute to human health, food security and environmental protection, while also requiring close attention to biosafety, research ethics and risks associated with the use of technology. Responsible innovation, he stressed, is an important part of scientific research. He called on young researchers to take into account both technological innovation and its social and ecological impacts, and to actively pursue cross-disciplinary international collaboration.

The competition’s awards were announced on the afternoon of August 23."WHU-soluBlue"from Wuhan University won the SynBio Challenges Grand Prize and also received the Best Presentation Award. The project addressed the scarcity of natural blue pigments and the poor water solubility of existing blue colorants by developing, for the first time, an Escherichia coli-based biosynthetic system for Indochrome. By optimizing the microbial chassis and fermentation conditions, the team increased the yield of the target product while reducing by-product accumulation, establishing a scalable production platform for water-soluble blue pigments. The team also explored applications in fabric dyeing, tie-dyeing and bio-based inks, offering a new technical pathway for the engineered production and application development of novel natural blue pigments.

In theRegular Competition,"SUAT-CHINA"from Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology received theBest Biomedicine ProjectAward in the Red Track;"WHU-solu Blue"from Wuhan University received theBest Agriculture and Environment ProjectAward in the Green Track; and the "I Can't Take It Anymore" team from Central China Normal University received theBest Biochemical Engineering ProjectAward in the White Track.

The Bacterial Gladiator, Protein Design, and Synthetic Cell tracks used the Shenzhen Synthetic Biology Infrastructure to complete automated, high-throughput experimental validation. In the Protein Design track, "The Shepherd Boy" team from Hubei University received the Best Brightness Award, while"GFP_Design_LMMDer"from East China University of Science and Technology received the Best Thermal Stability Award."GXY-GCY"from Wuhan University received the Best Bacterial Gladiator Award, and the"RBS Tuning Team"from Wuhan University received the Best Synthetic Cell Award.

In the Responsible Life SciencesInnovation track,the"MIRAGE"team from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China receivedtheBest Award for Responsible Innovation in Life Sciencesfor its project, "Toward Responsible Innovation in Mirror Biology."

In addition,"HALO WORLD"from Army Medical University of the Chinese People's Liberation Army received the Best Science Communication Award, while"Synth NK"from Naval Medical University of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army received the Most Popular Award.

In the newly introducedCorporate Challenge,"ZJU-China"from Zhejiang University received the Best Moutai Award; the "E. coli, Don't Mess with Me" team from South China Agricultural University received the Best Wanhua Award; and "SynJas Green Jasmine" from Sun Yat-sen University received the Best AHB Award.

Serving as a bridge connecting scientific exploration, responsible innovation and industrial practice, the 5th Synthetic Biology Innovation Competition created an open and collaborative platform for young people worldwide and helped move innovative ideas toward validation and application. Looking ahead, the competition will continue to bring together the ingenuity of young people from around the world, strengthen connections across“education, research, industry, entrepreneurship and investment”, and inject sustained youthful energy into the development of synthetic biology and biomanufacturing.