SBOLinside: Episode 1 with Prof. Herbert Sauro

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We are incredibly excited to announce that the very first episode of our brand-new video podcast, SBOLinside, is now live!

Episode 1: How Did SBOL Start?

For our inaugural episode, host Erik Kubaczka sits down with Prof. Herbert Sauro from the University of Washington. As the first chair of SBOL and one of the leading forces in its creation, Herbert shares the fascinating origin story of the standard.

Here is a brief sneak peek of what to expect in this episode:

The Spark: Herbert takes us back to the early 2000s, when groundbreaking papers like the repressillator and bistable switch proved that biological systems could be built from design.
From PoBoL to SBOL: Learn how the standard was originally named PoBoL, short for Provisional BioBrick Language and picked partly because it sounds like the Welsh word for people, before Prof. Drew Endy suggested the name SBOL.
The first workshop: Hear how a crucial Microsoft grant funded the very first workshop in Seattle, bringing together 40 enthusiastic young scientists to thrash out what would become the first SBOL draft.
The vision: Herbert explains his original vision for SBOL-inspired by his hobby of building electronic circuits. He envisioned a future where a biologist could design a genetic circuit on a computer (CAD) using SBOL, send it to a company, and receive the physical culture or plasmid in the mail a week later.
Hurdles & Triumphs: Herbert candidly discusses the early challenges of standard funding in the US and the importance of giving young scientists responsibility to build long-term project stability.

Watch Now!

You can watch the full interview along with all our videos on our YouTube channel.

Don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn and check back on our blog for future updates!

Stay tuned for more episodes of #SBOLinside!

SBOLinside | The Synthetic Biology Open Language

SBOLinside: Episode 1 with Prof. Herbert Sauro

Episode 1: How Did SBOL Start?

Watch Now!