Synthetic Biology is a new branch of the emerging technosciences and is said to have a revolutionary impact and the potential to pose major ethical challenges. It aims at designing biological systems for numerous useful purposes, ideally starting from scratch and creating new life forms. The EU-funded project SYNTH-ETHICS will address a variety of ethical, legal and social aspects (ELSA) of these ongoing and anticipated developments. Challenges for current regulatory frameworks will be identified and recommendations for dealing with these challenges will be formulated targeted at three relevant groups: 1) the synthetic biology community, 2) EU policy makers and 3) NGOs/the public. Hans-Jürgen Link is participating in the project for the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (ITAS) .