The Second International Conference on Synthetic Biology (SB2.0) took place on May 20-22, 2006, at the University of California, Berkeley. The conference brought together a diverse group of participants from a variety of disciplines, including some of the world's leaders in biological engineering, biochemistry, quantitative biology, biophysics, molecular and cellular biology, bioethics, policy and governance, and the biotech industry. A collaborative effort of Berkeley Lab, MIT, UC Berkeley, and UCSF, the conference sought to promote and guide the further, constructive development of the field. SB2.0 began with two days of plenary talks and discussions focused on five research areas: energy,...