Table 3.

Additional technologies considered enabling for synthetic biology by survey participants

Tool, Reagent or Method	Description (URL or reference)	N
BioCyc	a collection of 1962 pathway and genome databases (http://biocyc.org)	1
Bioinformatics	the application of computational techniques to analyze the information associated with biomolecules on a large-scale (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/About/primer/bioinformatics.html)	1
CAGE: Conjugative Assembly Genome Engineering	a technology that permits the hierarchical consolidation of modified genomic regions [18]	1
High Throughput Computing	the ability to run many copies of software at the same time across many different computers, reviewed in [19]	1
in vitro screens	tests for biological activity such as metal binding screens, electron uptake, and other enzymatic activity	2
IonTorrent	an approach to DNA sequencing that enables a direct connection between chemical and digital information and aims to place DNA sequencing within the reach of any laboratory or clinic [20]	1
EcoCyc	a database for Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 (http://ecocyc.org)	1
Flow Cytometry	a technology that uses the principles of light scattering, light excitation, and emission of fluorochrome molecules to generate specific multi-parameter data from particles and cells in the size range of 0.5 μm to 40 μm diameter (http://crl.berkeley.edu/flow_cytometry_basic.html)	3
KEGG: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes	a database resource for understanding high-level functions and utilities of the biological system, such as the cell, the organism and the ecosystem, from genomic and molecular-level information (http://www.genome.jp/kegg)	1
Mass spectrometry	a technology for targeted protein quantification, reviewed in [21]	2
MetaCyc	a database of nonredundant, experimentally elucidated metabolic pathways (http://metacyc.org)	1
Molecular biology technologies, generally	includes methods and reagents for creating competent cells, nucleic acid transfer, digestion, primer extension, ligation, assembly of DNA molecules, etc.	9
OptForce	an algorithm that identifies all possible metabolic interventions that lead to the overproduction of a biochemical of interest [22]	1
PDB: Protein DataBank	an information portal to biological macromolecular structures (http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/home/home.do)	1
Protein purification technologies	methods for purifying a protein of interest efficiently, reviewed in [23]	1
Recombineering	an in vivo method of genetic engineering applicable to chromosomal and episomal replicons in E. coli[24]	1
Robotic automation	use of robots for repetitive laboratory tasks such as pick and place, liquid and solid additions, heating, cooling, mixing, shaking, etc.	2
Single cell microscopy	a technology that enables visualization of gene expression with exquisite spatial and temporal sensitivity, reviewed in [25]	1
Standards, needed	includes standards for calibrating and sharing data from plate readers, standards for test, measurement and characterization, standards for documentation and sharing of biological modules, for example see Arkin, 2008 [26] and Endy, 2005 [27]	3
SOLiD	a next generation sequencing technology that allows identification of hundreds of millions of short RNAs in a sample in a single run [28]	1
Transcription Activator-Like (TAL) effector technology	a technology that allows proteins to be designed to specifically target and bind to a desired sequence of DNA [29]	1
UniProt: Universal Protein Resource	a collaboration between the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and the Protein Information Resource (PIR) that aims to provide a comprehensive resource for protein sequence and annotation data (http://www.uniprot.org)	1
Yeast in vivo recombination	methods for assembling large DNA constructs in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, for example see Gibson et al., 2008 [30] and Jaschke et al., 2012 [31]	1