Engaging with a xenobiology laboratory as a social scientist: Lessons, opportunities, and challenges

Natural scientists (and engineers), and social scientists, present different assumptions of what responsibility in science means, and the ramifications that need consideration. The emerging discipline of xenobiology, a subdiscipline of synthetic biology, raises relevant ethical and social considerations for its responsible development. This chapter provides an account of an engagement as a social scientist with a xenobiology laboratory, with the aim of fostering reflection about the ramifications and social relevance of scientists' research. Laboratory engagement studies have emphasized promoting reflexivity in the laboratory, bringing forward scientific outputs that meet societal needs, often suggesting the steering of technologies at an early stage. I outline a few considerations for collaborations between social scientists and synthetic biologists, building rapport with collaborators, involving stakeholders, increasing the decision-making capacities of laboratory members, and the awareness of cultural and historical underpinnings of the life sciences. Furthermore, I delve into two ramifications of xenobiology and scientists' perceptions of these: first, the potential restriction of access to xenobiological materials and intellectual property. Second, the environmental risk of xenobiological reagents and systems. Xenobiology can provide an opportunity for revisiting the inclination to address social problems through design principles and rewrite narratives about what kind of research society wants.