Welcome
Dear Colleague A very warm welcome to Directing Biosynthesis VI. On behalf of the Scientific Committee, I’d like to thank you all for taking part in what I am sure will be an exceptionally stimulating and enjoyable three days! As we all know, specialised metabolites produced by microorganisms and plants have inspired the development of many blockbuster drugs, crop protection agents and other high value chemicals. Research on the biosynthesis of such metabolites is not only of strategic importance commercially - it is also relevant to wider society and continues to play a key role in addressing emerging global challenges in health, the environment and sustainability. This year’s Directing Biosynthesis conference is the sixth in the series. The first conference was held in Cambridge in 2006 and followed on from earlier meetings focused more specifically on polyketide biosynthesis. We originally planned to hold this sixth edition in June 2020 but were forced to postpone it due to the COVID pandemic. In the interim, we held a two-day online meeting (in April 2021), which proved to be an excellent forum for disseminating the latest advances in the field despite the difficult circumstances most of us were enduring at that time. Modern biosynthesis research is exceptionally interdisciplinary, employing a wide range of techniques from diverse fields, including (meta)genomics, molecular genetics, enzymology, structural biology, ecology, evolutionary biology, organic synthesis, analytical chemistry, and synthetic biology. The ongoing success of this conference series serves to highlight the impact of our efforts as a community in this exciting field of contemporary science. Doubtless this year’s meeting will provide ample opportunity for attendees to discuss their work and initiate or renew productive collaborations. I hope you enjoy the mix of presentations, not only the keynote and contributed lectures, but also the wide range of posters and I really hope that this meeting will provide an opportunity for early career researchers to share their ideas and enthusiasm. I would like to extend thanks to all the sponsors, supporters and co-organizers who have promoted and supported this event. I strongly encourage all participants to take the opportunity to meet with members of these organizations over the next three days and learn about how we can work together to continue advancing this very exciting field. Finally, I am particularly grateful to colleagues both on the Scientific Committee and at the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) for their many and varied contributions to making this conference happen. Greg Challis Chair of Scientific Committee University of Warwick / Monash University
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