TALK A LOT ABOUT THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF DNA COMPUTING HERE

TALK A LOT ABOUT THERAPEUTIC APPLICATIONS HERE

HSSP Class

We are passionate about sharing the emergent advances and exciting research in the field of synthetic biology with young minds! On August 12, 2012, we taught a course on Synthetic Biology to local Boston middle-school students through the MIT Educational Studies Program. Our fun course included introducing the central dogma and basic molecular biology background information, cool circuit parts and simple molecular biology design tools, and interesting new applications of the research. Through our engaging course, we hope to have inspired these young minds to learn more about the field and to join us as members of the synthetic biology community someday!

International Outreach Projects

Internationalization Project of Synthetic Biology

The Internationalization Project of Synthetic Biology (IPSB) is a collaborative project between MIT and Tel-Aviv University (TAU) that aims to introduce synthetic biology to Palestinians, promote it in Israel, and create a network of understanding Palestinian and Israeli leaders. It aims to do so by bringing together gifted Palestinian and Israeli high school students for three years, and teaching them the principles of bioengineering and bio-entrepreneurship. At the end of the third year, the students would present their technical project in iGEM’s high school contest, along with a business plan for commercializing it in iGEM;s entrepreneurial contest. Logistics of the program include sending MIT students would be sent to Tel-Aviv in the summer to teach the students, and TAU instructors would take over supervision throughout the academic year. The pilot program will run for one year (June 2013-June 2014), and hopefully a Palestinian-Israeli iGEM college team will be created in the future.

Biosafety Research

Our iGEM team has been considering the safety implications of synthetic biology research, with one member becoming directly involved in MIT’s Program on Emerging Technologies (PoET). His work was done under the supervision of professor Kenneth Oye, an MIT professor affiliated with both MIT’s political science department and Engineering Systems Division (ESD). This work was presented in a poster on one of the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center’s (SynBERC) retreats, and produced a literature review about the methods used to assess the competitiveness of engineered organisms should they be released to the outer environment. The review provided background knowledge for Oye’s group when organizing the conference “Beyond Containment: Assessing, Testing, and Demonstrating Safety On Release of Synbio Devices and Chassis,” which took place in the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC, and was attended by members of government, academia, and industry.

SOMEONE TALK ABOUT THE IAP CLASS HERE SOMEONE ADD PICTURES OF IAP CLASS HERE

SOMEONE TALK ABOUT NEGEM HERE SOMEONE ADD PICTURES OF NEGEM HERE

Wellesley

We collaborated with the Wellesley HCI team as beta-testers of their software! Check out their wiki. We got to play with Wellesley's touch screen MoClo planner software, on a large PixelSense-style screen (a.k.a. the old, pre-tablet Microsoft Surface). MoClo planner makes the plasmid-building process easier by integrating research tools, computer aided design, and construction planning under one application. Having experienced plasmid construction firsthand this summer, the MIT iGEM team wholeheartedly supports any efforts to make the task simpler.

SOMEONE ADD SOME PICTURES HERE

Several members of our team also tested SynBio Search, Wellesley's semantic search website for synthetic biologists.

In addition to testing their software, we also helped the Wellesley team by hosting Wellesley observers in our team meetings. Through observing our team in action, the Wellesley team improved their understanding of what sorts of tools synthetic biologists need, and what challenges they face that can be solved by software.

TU Munich

Our team participated in a survey run by TU Munich. Check out their wiki. {{Team:TU_Munich/Badge}}

Overview

As representatives of the iGEM and synthetic biology communities, our team aims to serve as a positive contribution locally and globally. We recognize significant broader impacts of our 2012 iGEM research project, both for fundamental advances in the synthetic biology research, as well as for potential therapeutic applications stemming from our novel technology. Furthermore, we aim to promote a wider understanding of the synthetic biology field within the local and global communities, and have organized several outreach and educational programs to accomplish this goal. Finally, we understand the importance of collaboration within the scientific community as a means of progress, and have thus worked closely with fellow iGEM teams to foster positive connections and provide valuable assistance on their research projects. To promote understanding of synthetic biology, as a team we taught our favorite topics in synthetic biology to middle and high school students in the Boston area, formulated plans for international iGEM outreach in Tel Aviv, and we will soon design a course on synthetic biology lab techniques to run at MIT during January. Lastly, we participated in a New England regional iGEM meet-up and collaborated with fellow iGEM teams. Read all about it!