In biochemistry, a metabolic pathway is a series of chemical reactions occurring within a cell, in which a principal chemical is modified by chemical reactions. This object is used within synthetic biology as both an organic target for genetic manipulation in the production of a desired chemical molecule (like a precursor to the anti-malarial, artemisinin) and has become a sort of analogy used by some synthetic biologists, including SynBERC director Jay Keasling, to design or map out the long term results of a certain research project as it goes through different phases of implementation. The concept is useful for us as a mode of connecting, historically or otherwise, events, ideas, and documents that give depth to complex issues related to synthetic biology, like bioethics or security.