FILE - Yvonne Woods, a lab agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, points to a DNA chart during Diego Olmos Alcalde's trial on Monday June 22, 2009 in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/Pool, Marty ...

Synthetic biology is poised to tackle a range of challenges, from cleaning up pollutants with designer bacteria to the creation of bespoke gene therapies. But the transition from the laboratory to ...