On 23 November 2016, Dek Woolfson chaired a public debate ‘Altering plants, microbes and people’ at The Watershed, Bristol. Members of the public were invited to join researchers from BrisSynBio to discuss the emerging discipline of synthetic biology and how it may be applied to a range of sectors, from using microorganisms as factories for food and fuel, smart therapeutics, improved crops and even altered humans.