Brown:Research
From 2006.igem.org
Synthetic Biology
Synthetic Biology is perhaps the hottest new topic to come from biology in the "post-genomic" era. Now that we know the code that goes into making life, we are trying to understand what it all does. One way to do this is to start from scratch and design our own string of nucleotides which will fold into a protein that has some function in the organism (the bacteria E. coli in most cases). By stringing known proteins together, we can start to design and build our own molecular machines with the help of biologists, engineers, physicists, computer scientists, and chemists.
A [http://iap03.igem.org variety of engineered designs] were created for and entered in the [http://partsregistry.org/cgi/htdocs/SBC04/index.cgi 2005 iGEM competion]. These entries included chemotaxis regulation systems, cell-cell genetic communications systems, cellular/biological wires, thermometers, biological sketch pads (drawing systems), cellular relay races, a digital counter, and many more. At the core of these projects was the notion of a standard biological part that was well specified and able to be paired with other parts into subassemblies and whole systems.
Student-led research at Brown
The iGEM competition gives students the chance to spend 12 weeks on ground-breaking research in Synthetic Biology. Students will convene over the summer, spending their time designing novel engineered parts, modeling biochemical reactions, and then implementing these designs in the lab. A mentoring board will meet each week in order for students to report progress and to discuss new ideas. The project will contribute to advances in current research in Synthetic Biology. Previous entries in the iGEM competition have been published by students in the journal Nature [Voigt, 2005]. The competition provides a unique opportunity for Brown students engaged in the study of science to develop their own ideas and to start basic publishing valuable research.
