Plants are essential for humankind’s survival providing us with food and oxygen, medicines, building materials, fuel and many other products. Despite their critical importance, we know far less about plants than about other organisms. Plant sciences today are called upon to contribute solutions that address societal needs for food, energy and health in a global scenario characterized by climate change, population growth and environmental impact. The challenge then is to meet society’s needs in socially and environmentally responsible ways. The Millennium Nucleus Center for Plant Systems and Synthetic Biology (PSSB) represents a new initiative in Chile to establish a research center of excellence using cutting-edge technologies for advancing Plant Sciences and Biotechnology. The PSSB Nucleus Center renews and builds upon our efforts and work during the last five years at the Millennium Nucleus Center for Plant Functional Genomics (MN-PFG). The PSSB Millennium Nucleus Center promotes problem solving from an interdisciplinary perspective emerging from interactions among plant biologists, biotechnologists, microbiologists, bioinformaticians and agronomists and reflexive science involving dialogue and deliberation about new technologies. We will address our scientific goals using cutting-edge approaches such as genomics, bioinformatics, systems biology.