Enhancing Bio-Design with Touch-Based Human-Computer Interaction

Synthetic biology will require a multidisciplinary, collaborative design environment in order to engineer the complex biological systems of the future. In addition, as synthetic biology develops as a field, it is increasingly important to communicate to the public the excitement and constraints of cutting-edge research. Our team is creating a collection of software tools, which address specific technical synthetic biology challenges while simultaneously advancing the way in which users interact with computing environments. We also utilize advances in human-computer interaction to communicate core concepts of synthetic biology to the public. Synbio Search is an online tool that generates data sheets for biological parts by aggregating data from various publicly available resources. MoClo Planner visualizes the Golden Gate Modular Cloning process and facilitates hierarchical design and production of multi-gene constructs. SynFlo is an interactive installation that utilizes tangible and tabletop human-computer interaction techniques to illustrate core concepts of synthetic biology in outreach programs. The application of novel human-computer interaction techniques to synthetic biology fosters the development of more effective, collaborative, and intuitive software tools, which enhance the design-build-test methodology.