SynBERC:Automated cloning brainstorming

from Kevin:

"I was talking with Adam Arkin, who runs a DOE:GTL program and is pretty good at executing large-scale, center-based research projects like SynBERC. For the cloning and registry discussions, Adam suggested that we first agree on what decisions we are going to make before we start hashing out the issues. The idea is that it's better to settle up-front on what we want to emerge from the discussion before we get bogged down in technical complexities. Could the SLC/student sessions suggest some practical outcomes for each of these sessions as part of the brainstorming sessions?"

Meta questions

 * 1) Does SynBERC want to make investments in automated cloning?
 * 2) How could SynBERC best contribute to this endeavors?
 * 3) If we do want to work this initiative, how do we want to structure the investment? (Personnel, consulting with companies, research project in a lab?)
 * 4) What is our vision for the outcome of a SynBERC investment in automated cloning?

Practical outcomes

 * Jason R. Kelly 12:02, 13 September 2007 (EDT):Answers to some of these questions would be nice outcome I think:
 * Where should we focus our efforts? Standard BB cloning, BamI/BglI, BBQuick, OE-PCR w/ custom primers, give up and let direct synthesis do it, etc...
 * Can we get some funding for this?
 * Can we partner with a synthesis company? Bangalore Genie? etc?
 * What is the acceptable cost per assembly? For instance if we would pay $1000 an assembly we could just hire technicians to do BB assembly by hand all day for us -- or I'd do it ;)