1 Systems Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, 1 Castle Point Terrace, Hoboken, 07030, NJ, USA.
2 Intelligent Software & Systems, Raytheon BBN Technologies, 10 Moulton Street, Cambridge, 02138, MA, USA.
3 Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands.
4 Centre for Applied Synthetic Biology, and Department of Biology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke Street West, Montréal, H4B 1R6, Québec, Canada.
5 Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, MA, USA.
6 Specialized Metabolism research group, Center for Plant Systems Biology, VIB-Ghent University, Technologiepark 71, Zwijnaarde, 9052, Belgium.
7 iGEM Foundation, 45 Prospect Street, Cambridge, 02139, MA, USA.
8 Delft University of

Synthetic biologists have made great progress over the past decade in developing methods for modular assembly of genetic sequences and in engineering biological systems with a wide variety of functions in various contexts and organisms. However, current paradigms in the field entangle sequence and functionality in a manner that makes abstraction difficult, reduces engineering flexibility and impairs predictability and design reuse. Functional Synthetic Biology aims to overcome these impediments by focusing the design of biological systems on function, rather than on sequence. This reorientation will decouple the engineering of biological devices from the specifics of how those devices are put to use, requiring both conceptual and organizational change, as well as supporting software tooling. Realizing this vision of Functional Synthetic Biology will allow more flexibility in how devices are used, more opportunity for reuse of devices and data, improvements in predictability and reductions in technical risk and cost.