IGEM:IMPERIAL/2007/Calendar/2007-7-11

Students

 * Engineering Cycle Presentation
 * Abstraction Presentation
 * Logic & Symbols Presentation
 * OpenWetWare Wiki Tutorial
 * Biobricks & Registry Tutorial
 * Modelling Tools Tutorial
 * Create a 'Feedback Wanted' page
 * Create a 'Useful Links' page
 * Look at BBa-F2620 (Inverter) part documentation (as an example of good characterisation)
 * Create a page for the Journal Club
 * Determine a PDF production method for the group (Acrobat? Ghostscript? other?)
 * Define a documentation protocol, information organisation structure, etc
 * Investigate optimisation strategies
 * Visa arrangements for Jamboree - does anyone need a visa?
 * Confirm that all members have access to necessary web pages - this has not been cleared yet.
 * Create a summary of the IC iGEM project on [this page]
 * All Journal Club pairs must choose the papers they will be presenting

Supervisors

 * Arrange computer suite for tutorials
 * Briefing about the part to be characterised
 * Login access for Biochems into base computers
 * List of papers for journal club
 * Lunch tickets!!

Questions

 * How will we divide the project time?
 * How will we establish a peer review process?
 * How will we use the calendar facility?
 * What roles will we appoint? Suggestions:
 * 1 Wiki/IT Administrator
 * 2 Project Manager
 * 2 Budget Manager
 * 2 Experiments Planner
 * 3 iGEM Liaison (public relations, media, etc)
 * 4 Brand Manager (design logo, define styles, etc.
 * 3 Daily Blogger
 * Note: Appoint more than one person for each role. The idea is to have people sharing responsibilities, to allow for learning and also to offload work.
 * Team names
 * 1 Tech Team
 * 2 Admin Team
 * 3 Media Cell
 * 4 Brand Team

Summary of Activities
The group agreed on a new structure for the calendar system, and discussed what sort of information should be on there: a summary of activities, a list of pending tasks, questions arising, list new wiki pages for the day, and budget information, and aims for the week.

It was pointed out that, in designing & characterising systems and parts, good consideration should be given to noise, cross-talking with other components, and durability.

The concept of 'designing through evolution' was brought up: a method of design by which the specifications are entered as a 'natural selection force' and a computer simulates the evolution of the system under this force. This may be used as a strategy to improve signal to noise ratio in the system. However, it was pointed out that such a strategy may produce well-performing systems, but of complexity too great to be well understood and characterised. Therefore, it is probably not desirable.

It was pointed out that it would be valuable to, one day, have a discussion about the legal and economic aspects of synthetic biology and the project, particularly with respect to intellectual property.

The possibility of designing a system that is not confined within cells was brought up. In this case, the DNA and reaction enzymes would simply be added to a solution in a test-tube. This may be a good way to test the concept of a system with minimal noise.

The group was reminded that they should bear in mind the different awards and the project criteria when brainstorming.

It was suggested that the team could make a special effort to be 'green' - minimise waste, use clean procedures, etc.

It was stated that the specification, design, and modelling stages should be done as carefully as possible. The implementation stage is costly and time-consuming, and the group may not have more than one chance at it. The group was reminded that the 'usual' way of doing things in programming - compiling code just to see if it works - is not suitable for this project.

A first debriefing session was attempted. The need for someone to chair the session was identified, and it was suggested that a different person take this role in each session. Jerry had honour of being the first to take this role.

It was decided to move the modelling tutorial to the second week, in order to give more time for the speakers to identify and learn about the modelling tools that will be used. This change in schedule does not delay things because no modelling is expected to be done until then.

It was suggested that a 'quick decision' method should be devised for administration tasks, in order to avoid having the whole group spending time on these issues. Perhaps one, two or three people good get together to discuss issues, and then propose their solutions to the rest of the group for approval, or simply inform them of the decisions taken.

It was suggested that Journal Club sessions should be allowed one hour, and brainstorming sessions more than 30 mins (90-120 minutes optimum?) when scheduling activities.