The document discusses synthetic biology and its potential applications. It explains foundational concepts like DNA, mRNA and proteins. It describes how DNA parts can be standardized and assembled to program bacteria. Examples are given of applications like biochemical sensors, genetic oscillators, and biological computation. The document conveys that synthetic biology makes biotechnology more accessible and could impact areas like healthcare, energy and education. It promotes synthetic biology as an exciting field that enables problem-based learning.
Synthetic Biology: Bringing Engineering Back Into Genetic EngineeringSachin Rawat
Genetic Engineering lacks a few elements of Engineering. Here is what those are and how Synthetic Biology (or Genetic Engineering v2.0) would account for those.
Synthetic biology is the designing of new biological systems or the modification of the existing ones that do not occur naturally. Synthetic or artificial cells organisms with minimal genomes have uses in molecular medicine, vaccines, environmental chemistry and bio-sensors. Creation of synthetic cells involve in-vitro synthesis of unitary DNA fragments of one-kilo base pairs (1kb). These unitary fragments are ligated to make ten kilo base pair (10kb) fragments, followed by tethering 10 fragments to form one hundred kilo base pair (100kb) fragments. Each step involves transformation and sequencing procedures in E. coli host cells. Ultimately, eleven of these hundred kilo base pair fragments are joined to create a “Synthetic Genome” which is maintained in yeast cells, as maximum limit of DNA transplant acceptance of E. coli is 100kb. By this approach, synthetic chromosomes can be maintained, manipulated and transplanted to an acceptor organism to create a synthetic cell. Applications of the technology include semi-synthetic approach of Artemisinic acid, which can be used to chemically synthesize anti-malarial drug Atremisinin and its therapeutically important derivatives. Second application of synthetic biology is production of meningitis vaccine against poorly immunogenic Neisseria meningitidis serogroup-B, by preparing synthetic vesicles. Third application includes disease mechanism identification of a rare-primary immunodeficiency disease “Agamaglobinemia” using reconstruction of mutant B-cell receptor components in synthetic membranes to validate a point mutation. Fourth application include environmental fixation of carbon di-oxide to produce methane by using minimal genome containing synthetic cells of Metahnococcous sp. Fifth application is production of novel biosensors which can be toggled ON and OFF using “Visible Light” as modulator. These “Gene switches” are also able to operate in mammalian cells. With potential applications and wide research domains, synthetic biology is also under ethical and religious criticism. Future of this new dimension of biological science requires scrutiny from regulatory authorities, and monetary input from funding agencies.
Overview of patenting activity in Syn Bio, patentable subject matter, requirements for patentability and infringement issues for innovations in that field.
Synthetic Biology: Bringing Engineering Back Into Genetic EngineeringSachin Rawat
Genetic Engineering lacks a few elements of Engineering. Here is what those are and how Synthetic Biology (or Genetic Engineering v2.0) would account for those.
Synthetic biology is the designing of new biological systems or the modification of the existing ones that do not occur naturally. Synthetic or artificial cells organisms with minimal genomes have uses in molecular medicine, vaccines, environmental chemistry and bio-sensors. Creation of synthetic cells involve in-vitro synthesis of unitary DNA fragments of one-kilo base pairs (1kb). These unitary fragments are ligated to make ten kilo base pair (10kb) fragments, followed by tethering 10 fragments to form one hundred kilo base pair (100kb) fragments. Each step involves transformation and sequencing procedures in E. coli host cells. Ultimately, eleven of these hundred kilo base pair fragments are joined to create a “Synthetic Genome” which is maintained in yeast cells, as maximum limit of DNA transplant acceptance of E. coli is 100kb. By this approach, synthetic chromosomes can be maintained, manipulated and transplanted to an acceptor organism to create a synthetic cell. Applications of the technology include semi-synthetic approach of Artemisinic acid, which can be used to chemically synthesize anti-malarial drug Atremisinin and its therapeutically important derivatives. Second application of synthetic biology is production of meningitis vaccine against poorly immunogenic Neisseria meningitidis serogroup-B, by preparing synthetic vesicles. Third application includes disease mechanism identification of a rare-primary immunodeficiency disease “Agamaglobinemia” using reconstruction of mutant B-cell receptor components in synthetic membranes to validate a point mutation. Fourth application include environmental fixation of carbon di-oxide to produce methane by using minimal genome containing synthetic cells of Metahnococcous sp. Fifth application is production of novel biosensors which can be toggled ON and OFF using “Visible Light” as modulator. These “Gene switches” are also able to operate in mammalian cells. With potential applications and wide research domains, synthetic biology is also under ethical and religious criticism. Future of this new dimension of biological science requires scrutiny from regulatory authorities, and monetary input from funding agencies.
Overview of patenting activity in Syn Bio, patentable subject matter, requirements for patentability and infringement issues for innovations in that field.
Introduction to Synthetic Genome
SYNTHETIC GENOMICS Study of Invitro chemical synthesis of genetic material i.e., DNA in the form of oligonucleotides, genes, or genomes with Computational techniques for its design. SYNTHETIC GENOME Artificially synthesised genome (invitro)
OBC | Synthetic biology announcing the coming technological revolutionOut of The Box Seminar
Roman Jerala, National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Synthetic biology announcing the coming technological revolution
http://obc2012.outofthebox.si/
SYNTHETIC CELLS
An artificial cell or minimal cell or synthetic cell is an engineered particle that mimics one or many functions of a biological cell.
Artificial cells are biological or polymeric membranes which enclose biologically active materials.
A "living" artificial cell has been defined as a completely synthetically made cell that can capture energy, maintain ion gradients, contain macromolecules as well as store information and have the ability to mutate.
DEFINITION
EXAMPLE
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
Synthetic biology is a multidisciplinary area of research that seeks to create new biological parts, devices, and systems, or to redesign systems that are already found in nature.
Due to more powerful genetic engineering capabilities and decreased DNA synthesis and sequencing costs, the field of synthetic biology is rapidly growing
HISTORY
BOTTOM-UP APPROACH FOR CONSTRUCTING SYNTHETIC CELLS
A bottom-up approach is commonly used to design and construct genetic circuits by piecing together functional modules that are capable of reprogramming cells with novel behavior.
CELL ENCAPSULATION METHOD
Cell microencapsulation technology involves immobilization of the cells within a polymeric semi-permeable membrane that permits the bidirectional diffusion of molecules such as the influx of oxygen, nutrients, growth factors etc. essential for cell metabolism and the outward diffusion of waste products and therapeutic proteins.
TECHNIQUES USED FOR THE PREPARATION OF EMULSION
1- high pressure homogenization
2- microfluidization
3- drop method
4- emulsion method
MEMBRANES OF SYNTHETIC CELLS
THE MINIMAL CELL
A minimal cell is one whose genome only encodes the minimal set of genes necessary for the cell to survive.
THE SYNTHETIC BLOOD CELLS
Synthetic red blood cells mimic natural ones, and have new abilities
APPLICATIONS OF SYNTHETIC CELLS
1- DRUG RELEASE AND DELIEVERY
2- GENE THERAPY
3- ENZYME THERAPY
4- HEMOPERFUSION
5- OTHER APPLICATIONS
FUTURE OF SYNTHETIC CELLS AND BIOLOGY
ACHIEVEMENTS
HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES
ETHICS AND CONTROVERSIES
REFERENCES
THANK YOU
Discussing cutting-edge genetic research and its impacts on food and farming. What ethical questions do the technologies raise?
"Synthetic biology" and "gene editing" describe new ways to create and alter DNA, to fundamentally change the character of living organisms. Scientists can now change or write entirely new genetic codes on a computer, "edit" and "print" them, and insert them into living organisms. Companies are already selling flavours and food ingredients, like vanilla and stevia, grown in factories by synthetically engineered yeast and algae. And the first gene edited crops and animals could soon make it onto our dinner plates.
Featuring Drew Endy, Associate Professor of Bioengineering, Stanford University and President of BioBricks Foundation, and Jim Thomas, Technology Critic; Co-Executive Director of ETC Group.
What is synthetic biology? How quickly is it developing? How does it work? What do we need to know about the synthetic biology industry? What impact does this all have on biodiversity and farmers? What are GMO 1.0, GMO 2.0, GMO+?
Presentation by Jim Thomas of ETC Group, during Redesigning the Tree of Life: Synthetic Biology and the Future of Food, 2-4 November 2017 in Toronto.
James J. Collins
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Dept of Biomedical Engineering & Center of Synthetic Biology
Boston University
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
Harvard University
Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary branch of biology and engineering. The subject combines disciplines from within these domains, such as biotechnology, genetic engineering, molecular biology, molecular engineering, systems biology, biophysics, electrical engineering, computer engineering, control engineering and evolutionary biology. Synthetic biology applies these disciplines to build artificial biological systems for research, engineering, and medical applications
Metagenomics is the study of metagenomes, genetic material recovered directly from environmental samples. The broad field was referred to as environmental genomics, ecogenomics or community genomics. Recent studies use "shotgun" Sanger sequencing or next generation sequencing (NGS) to get largely unbiased samples of all genes from all the members of the sampled communities.
Introduction to Synthetic Genome
SYNTHETIC GENOMICS Study of Invitro chemical synthesis of genetic material i.e., DNA in the form of oligonucleotides, genes, or genomes with Computational techniques for its design. SYNTHETIC GENOME Artificially synthesised genome (invitro)
OBC | Synthetic biology announcing the coming technological revolutionOut of The Box Seminar
Roman Jerala, National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Synthetic biology announcing the coming technological revolution
http://obc2012.outofthebox.si/
SYNTHETIC CELLS
An artificial cell or minimal cell or synthetic cell is an engineered particle that mimics one or many functions of a biological cell.
Artificial cells are biological or polymeric membranes which enclose biologically active materials.
A "living" artificial cell has been defined as a completely synthetically made cell that can capture energy, maintain ion gradients, contain macromolecules as well as store information and have the ability to mutate.
DEFINITION
EXAMPLE
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
Synthetic biology is a multidisciplinary area of research that seeks to create new biological parts, devices, and systems, or to redesign systems that are already found in nature.
Due to more powerful genetic engineering capabilities and decreased DNA synthesis and sequencing costs, the field of synthetic biology is rapidly growing
HISTORY
BOTTOM-UP APPROACH FOR CONSTRUCTING SYNTHETIC CELLS
A bottom-up approach is commonly used to design and construct genetic circuits by piecing together functional modules that are capable of reprogramming cells with novel behavior.
CELL ENCAPSULATION METHOD
Cell microencapsulation technology involves immobilization of the cells within a polymeric semi-permeable membrane that permits the bidirectional diffusion of molecules such as the influx of oxygen, nutrients, growth factors etc. essential for cell metabolism and the outward diffusion of waste products and therapeutic proteins.
TECHNIQUES USED FOR THE PREPARATION OF EMULSION
1- high pressure homogenization
2- microfluidization
3- drop method
4- emulsion method
MEMBRANES OF SYNTHETIC CELLS
THE MINIMAL CELL
A minimal cell is one whose genome only encodes the minimal set of genes necessary for the cell to survive.
THE SYNTHETIC BLOOD CELLS
Synthetic red blood cells mimic natural ones, and have new abilities
APPLICATIONS OF SYNTHETIC CELLS
1- DRUG RELEASE AND DELIEVERY
2- GENE THERAPY
3- ENZYME THERAPY
4- HEMOPERFUSION
5- OTHER APPLICATIONS
FUTURE OF SYNTHETIC CELLS AND BIOLOGY
ACHIEVEMENTS
HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES
ETHICS AND CONTROVERSIES
REFERENCES
THANK YOU
Discussing cutting-edge genetic research and its impacts on food and farming. What ethical questions do the technologies raise?
"Synthetic biology" and "gene editing" describe new ways to create and alter DNA, to fundamentally change the character of living organisms. Scientists can now change or write entirely new genetic codes on a computer, "edit" and "print" them, and insert them into living organisms. Companies are already selling flavours and food ingredients, like vanilla and stevia, grown in factories by synthetically engineered yeast and algae. And the first gene edited crops and animals could soon make it onto our dinner plates.
Featuring Drew Endy, Associate Professor of Bioengineering, Stanford University and President of BioBricks Foundation, and Jim Thomas, Technology Critic; Co-Executive Director of ETC Group.
What is synthetic biology? How quickly is it developing? How does it work? What do we need to know about the synthetic biology industry? What impact does this all have on biodiversity and farmers? What are GMO 1.0, GMO 2.0, GMO+?
Presentation by Jim Thomas of ETC Group, during Redesigning the Tree of Life: Synthetic Biology and the Future of Food, 2-4 November 2017 in Toronto.
James J. Collins
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Dept of Biomedical Engineering & Center of Synthetic Biology
Boston University
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
Harvard University
Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary branch of biology and engineering. The subject combines disciplines from within these domains, such as biotechnology, genetic engineering, molecular biology, molecular engineering, systems biology, biophysics, electrical engineering, computer engineering, control engineering and evolutionary biology. Synthetic biology applies these disciplines to build artificial biological systems for research, engineering, and medical applications
Metagenomics is the study of metagenomes, genetic material recovered directly from environmental samples. The broad field was referred to as environmental genomics, ecogenomics or community genomics. Recent studies use "shotgun" Sanger sequencing or next generation sequencing (NGS) to get largely unbiased samples of all genes from all the members of the sampled communities.
Synthetic Biology for Plant ScientistsSachin Rawat
Tools of synthetic biology can be utilised to engineer metabolic pathways to optimize production of secondary metabolites and ligno-cellulose. The presentation describes an approach to develop an artificial positive feedback loop to increase accumulation of cell wall polysaccharides. These will decrease the cost of production of plant-based biofuels, paper and other plant products.
Stanford Engineering Professor Christina Smolke explains how advances in synthetic biology are revolutionizing medical treatment, prevention and diagnosis of disease. She made this presentation at the school's annual eDay (Engineering Day) event.
This presentation is about the use of RNA in different ways like in synthetic form to regulate the gene expression and also used as an scaffold to increase the metabolite production.
The presentation describes the advantages of plastid transformation over 'conventional' nuclear transformation, hurdles to plastid transformation, its advantages. The presentation also covers some successful plastid engineering and its potential.
WSI is currently accepting applications from motivated, entrepreneurial-minded individuals for new franchise openings in high-growth markets. Apply Now!
ubio is starting a series of biology tutorials aimed at introducing biology, biotechnology and bioinformatics to computer engineers. The first part of the presentation is essentially a biochemistry tutorial that introduces molecular biochemistry.
What Is Genetics and How different/similar are our DNA sequences? Understanding Mendal's genetics and physical genetics; genotype, phenotype, allele, gene, homozygous, heterozygous, dominant, recessive.
Mapping Genotype to Phenotype using Attribute Grammar, Laura Adammadalladam
Defense -- thesis: “Mapping Genotype to Phenotype using Attribute Grammar.”
PhD degree in Genetics, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (GBCB) in the tracks of Computer Science, Mathematics and Life Sciences.
Dispensing processes profoundly influence estimates of biological activity of compounds. In this study using published inhibitor data for the tyrosine kinase EphB4, we show that IC50 values obtained via disposable tip-based serial dilution and dispensing versus acoustic dispensing differ by orders of magnitude with no correlation or ranking of datasets. Importantly, the computed EphB4 pharmacophores derived from this data differ for each dataset. Acoustic dispensing correctly highlights multiple hydrophobic features in the pharmacophore and correlates with calculated LogP values. Significantly, the acoustic dispensing-derived pharmacophore correctly identified active compounds in a test set. The subsequent analysis of crystal structures for other published EphB4 inhibitors and automated development of pharmacophores, indicated they were comparable to those developed with acoustic dispensing data. In short, dispensing processes are another important source of error in high-throughput screening that impacts computational and statistical analyses. These findings have far-reaching implications in biological research and in drug discovery.
This presentation is a thorough guide to the use of Web Apollo, with details on User Navigation, Functionality, and the thought process behind manual annotation.
During this workshop, participants:
- Learn to identify homologs of known genes of interest in a newly sequenced genome.
- Become familiar with the environment and functionality of the Web Apollo genome annotation editing tool.
- Learn how to corroborate or modify automatically annotated gene models using available evidence in Web Apollo.
- Understand the process of curation in the context of genome annotation.
Best Practices for Building an End-to-End Workflow for Microbial GenomicsJonathan Jacobs, PhD
Invited talk presented at 2019 CAFPA-ASM D.C. Branch
FALL MEETING on "Current Testing Approaches & Implications for Public Health" at the FDA in College Park, MD.
Similar to What Synthetic Biology Can Do For You (20)
6. Let’s break a rule
DNA mRNA have function
All DNA Protein Function
sensing protein coding
tln initiation stop signs
Images courtesy of Parts Registry (parts.mit.edu)
7. Think of these as DNA
parts
Images courtesy of Parts Registry (parts.mit.edu)
8. Think of these as DNA
parts
Images courtesy of Parts Registry (parts.mit.edu)
9. We can put these parts
together, and stick
them into bacteria
Parts of
DNA
44. idea
complete
writeup research funding
experience
experiments
45. idea
Analog biosensor with
increasing arabinose
thresholds for outputs
Applications in
biomedical diagnostics,
therapeutics &
environmental sensing
46. idea
complete
writeup research funding
experience
experiments
What do we think of when we hear the word, “bacteria”?
-Little creatures that live in our gut, in the soil, on our skin... ubiquitous, everywhere.
Have we thought of them differently?
-computers?
-gas guzzlers?
-energy storage tankers?
Why can we think of bacteria this way?
Well, I’m going to tell everybody about a new and exciting field called “synthetic biology”. However.....
...to understand synthetic biology, we need some conceptual basics. So let’s first understand briefly what the central dogma is.
This is the central dogma of biology which virtually all scientists accept as valid. A segment of DNA encodes for a copy of itself, called mRNA, which then gets translated into proteins.
Benefit of non-biologists: analogy.
One thing we often neglect is that the protein has some function. So just as an transit station performs its function in a transit system in allowing people to hop onto trains, proteins perform enzymatic, signaling or structural functions in living systems.
Central dogma - general rule of life
Functions include stuff more than coding for proteins. For example, there are docking sites for proteins that sense molecules outside of the cell. There are “stop signs” that tell a protein running along the length of the DNA to stop running.
So if we think about these chunks of DNA with discrete functions, we can start viewing them as “parts” of a bigger machine... much like lego bricks.
So if we think about these chunks of DNA with discrete functions, we can start viewing them as “parts” of a bigger machine... much like lego bricks.
Then, we can take these discrete parts, cut them out, and assemble them together into another bigger machine. Let’s go through an example.
Let’s take the E. coli docking site for a sugar-sensing protein, join that together with green fluorescent protein from jellyfish along with its variants, and add in the stop sign from yet another bacteria. What can we get?
with a bit of an artistic touch, we can easily make this:
Underlying all of this, really, is what we call “classical genetic engineering” technology. But here’s where a problem crops up. Scientists have been doing these things using their favorite enzymes and favorite protocols, and so the technology has been around, just not very interoperable.
Let’s think about that train station again - what if the station weren’t made from standardized parts? What if the engineers of the 1800s didn’t come together to standardize the thickness, lengths and turns of the nuts and bolts used for building things? I think we can agree that this building would be awfully hard to build.
In the same way, we can start thinking about standardizing these DNA parts. Let’s make a standard way of cutting and pasting them together, and add on a standard way of describing each category of parts. And let’s tag on part numbers, so that we can easily know what part we’re talking about.
And so with this, we start to build a picture of what synthetic biology is all about. It’s about bringing standardiztion to biology, so we’re not working with bits of knowledge all over the place. What follows from standardization is that we no longer think about the individual parts as ATGCs, we can start abstracting them into their functions, much like computer programmers don’t think about 0s and 1s but instead use object-oriented principles for designing their programs. We also get into this era of enabling the custom-design of DNA parts using automated DNA synthesis technology, which lets us write DNA the way we want it.
So this is starting to look like programming, isn’t it? We write a genetic program, and stick it inside a cell, which becomes our platform...
That’s just like Microsoft writing programs for windows, Apple writing the awesome iWork 09 suite for Macs... in the same way, we could potentially write really exciting genetic programs for various life platforms.
That’s just like Microsoft writing programs for windows, Apple writing the awesome iWork 09 suite for Macs... in the same way, we could potentially write really exciting genetic programs for various life platforms.
That’s just like Microsoft writing programs for windows, Apple writing the awesome iWork 09 suite for Macs... in the same way, we could potentially write really exciting genetic programs for various life platforms.
That’s just like Microsoft writing programs for windows, Apple writing the awesome iWork 09 suite for Macs... in the same way, we could potentially write really exciting genetic programs for various life platforms.
That’s just like Microsoft writing programs for windows, Apple writing the awesome iWork 09 suite for Macs... in the same way, we could potentially write really exciting genetic programs for various life platforms.
That’s just like Microsoft writing programs for windows, Apple writing the awesome iWork 09 suite for Macs... in the same way, we could potentially write really exciting genetic programs for various life platforms.
That’s just like Microsoft writing programs for windows, Apple writing the awesome iWork 09 suite for Macs... in the same way, we could potentially write really exciting genetic programs for various life platforms.
That’s just like Microsoft writing programs for windows, Apple writing the awesome iWork 09 suite for Macs... in the same way, we could potentially write really exciting genetic programs for various life platforms.
That’s just like Microsoft writing programs for windows, Apple writing the awesome iWork 09 suite for Macs... in the same way, we could potentially write really exciting genetic programs for various life platforms.
That’s just like Microsoft writing programs for windows, Apple writing the awesome iWork 09 suite for Macs... in the same way, we could potentially write really exciting genetic programs for various life platforms.
That’s just like Microsoft writing programs for windows, Apple writing the awesome iWork 09 suite for Macs... in the same way, we could potentially write really exciting genetic programs for various life platforms.
That’s just like Microsoft writing programs for windows, Apple writing the awesome iWork 09 suite for Macs... in the same way, we could potentially write really exciting genetic programs for various life platforms.
Thus, we’ve built a picture of what synthetic biology is about. It’s about the standardization of the process of genetic engineering, and doing this on a few broadly accepted platforms.
The consequence of this is that biotechnology is now way more accessible.
with a bit of an artistic touch, you can make this:
And that the standardization process helps enable the development of new applications. Let’s look at two genetic programs as examples.
So if you think about it, this technology can impact the world. We can start to think about even more applications.
We can program bacteria to behave like homing missiles to selectively target cancer cells and destroy them.
We can reprogram E. coli to consume greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, and perhaps even spit back out useful chemical or pharmaceutical products while at it.
Think about the genetic oscillator and the possibilities - we can start designing synthetic gene networks that enable counting and thus biological computation.
Think about the genetic oscillator and the possibilities - we can start designing synthetic gene networks that enable counting and thus biological computation.
Think about the genetic oscillator and the possibilities - we can start designing synthetic gene networks that enable counting and thus biological computation.
Think about the genetic oscillator and the possibilities - we can start designing synthetic gene networks that enable counting and thus biological computation.
Think about the genetic oscillator and the possibilities - we can start designing synthetic gene networks that enable counting and thus biological computation.
Think about the genetic oscillator and the possibilities - we can start designing synthetic gene networks that enable counting and thus biological computation.
Think about the genetic oscillator and the possibilities - we can start designing synthetic gene networks that enable counting and thus biological computation.
Think about the genetic oscillator and the possibilities - we can start designing synthetic gene networks that enable counting and thus biological computation.
Think about the genetic oscillator and the possibilities - we can start designing synthetic gene networks that enable counting and thus biological computation.
The sky is the limit. Because of the potential applications, synthetic biology is absolutely exciting.
I’ve shown you all how synthetic biology is really an interdisciplinary field, bringing biology, engineering, math, and chemistry together. The industry is taking an interest in this field as well. Moreover, informed discussions can shape how we take responsible stewardship for this technology.
Synthetic biology is fundamentally very powerful, and with this power comes responsibility. How would we utilize this technology for the benefit of mankind? How do we best manage the resources available to synthetic biologists?
It also raises another question - how do we approach teaching the life sciences?
Here at UBC, there is a defect in the way we are taught in the life sciences departments, and synthetic biology offers an opportunity to change the way we think about life science education. Here at UBC, our faculty have engaged our intellect brilliantly, but sadly enough, the curriculum neglects practical learning.
Would you rather learn established facts, or sit in on a lecture? Would you rather learn by tackling a problem or even designing and carrying out an experiment?
I contend that if we harness the talents of undergraduates by not only connecting with our minds, but also engaging our hands, then, by adopting this learning philosophy............
Now, you may wonder where that learning philosophy came from?
There’s a learning philosophy that I really like, called ‘Mens et Manus’, and it came out of one of the top research universities in the world - the Massachussetts Institute of Technology. It’s a place that I really want to go to. Mens et manus means that the institute seeks to engage both the minds and the hands of their students. Not only knowing knowledge and how to think, but also knowing how to do.
It’s here that people realized that not only can people with PhDs contribute significantly to practical research, but also undergraduates like myself!
It’s here that people realized that not only can people with PhDs contribute significantly to practical research, but also undergraduates like myself!
Out of this empowering and engaging educational philosophy came the International Genetically Engineered Machines competition, also known as iGEM, which is the premier international undergraduate research competition in synthetic biology.
This year, UBC has a team too! We have many people who came together to form this team, but none more foundational than Dr. Eric Lagally from the Michael Smith Laboratories.
By sponsoring the formation of an iGEM team at UBC, he has brought to us the complete research experience.
We came up with our own idea, to build an analog biosensor with thresholds for outputs. It’s almost like building an E. coli traffic light that produces a different fluorescent protein in response to different concentrations of arabinose. If we swapped out the arabinose sensor for a pollutant sensor, and the fluorescent proteins for pollutant-degrading enzymes, then we’d have a really powerful environmental-protection biomachine!
There’s more too!
Here’s just a subset of the sponsors for our team this year...
I remember writing with the team the grant proposal requested of us by the CIHR-MSFHR Training Program in Transplantation, as well as working with Dr. Lagally and the team on the proposal to UBC’s TLEF. In our regular undergraduate research environment, we hardly ever get to do this.
There’s the experiments too!
I remember designing and conducting experiments collaboratively with my teammates, pulling 12, 13 and 14 hour days just to get assemblies and data to put together. The constant frustrations, the occasional success... typical lab life...
And now, we’re in the process of writing up and documenting our work for the rest of the world to see, before we fly off to the Jamboree at the end of October.
And so this is really a model of how we should be teaching the life sciences - ...
We can program bacteria to behave like homing missiles to selectively target cancer cells and destroy them.
Applied & problem-based. Mens et manus, where we engage our minds and our hands to think of solutions for bigger problems. This is an opportunity to get UBC to start thinking about teaching the way MIT does, and start producing life science graduates who aren’t just supplying the BC workforce with labor, but rather, going out and innovating and solving world problems using biotechnology.
I’d like to stronlgy encourage everybody to check out the UBC iGEM booth just outside during the break to learn from us about how YOU can get involved with this really exciting learning journey. Thank you!