This conference will focus on the evolution of chloroplasts through the process of endosymbiosis that gave rise to a vast array of photosynthetic eukaryotes and forever altered life on earth.  Establishment of endosymbiotic organelles required endosymbiotic gene transfer, the evolution of protein targeting systems and metabolic connections, and the evolution of organellar division machineries and organelle-nucleus communication pathways. However, the molecular basis of these processes, their importance for the establishment of the endosymbiosis or even the order in which they occurred are largely unknown.  The emergence of synthetic biology as a growing field now provides an interdisciplinary framework for addressing these and related fundamental questions in biology and evolution.  The conference will bring together an interdisciplinary group of international scientists ranging from plant, algal and microbial biologists to computer scientists and engineers to establish a foundation towards experimental recapitulation of the origin of plastids by endosymbiosis and potentially provide blueprints for the generation of novel synthetic organelles.