2020(S09) Lecture:week 1

= Week 1 Tuesday =

Challenge: Project Runway
Instructions: Today you will design, build (i.e. fold) and launch a paper airplane. Your goal is to make a plane that flies further than anyones. Working in teams of 3, choose one person to be the designer, one to be the builder, and one to be the launcher. You can talk to each other at all stages but be sure each person does the assigned job and that someone takes notes of your work together (decisions, uncertainties, disagreements, expertise etc). Your team may use the internet if you want. The designer has one dollar to spend and your team must keep track of costs. No refunds will be issued for parts you do not use. In the event of a tie, cost and aesthetics will serve as the tie breaker. Relevant materials cost: Your team has 20 minutes to design and build a plane for the competition. If you are not ready to launch at this time, you will forfeit.
 * paper is 30 cents a sheet
 * paper clips are 10 cents each
 * scotch tape is 5 cents per 1 inch strip
 * pennies cost 20 cents each
 * a pencil costs 10 cents
 * scissors are unavailable
 * a test flight before the competition costs 30 cents.

Homework for tomorrow's studio session
Draft a letter. Address this letter to someone(s) you care about. Your letter should introduce and describe a real world problem or opportunity, one that you have inherited, identified, dreamed about, or otherwise encountered, and that you would like to solve or realize. Your letter should explain why you feel the problem or opportunity is important, and what the consequences of success might be. You can focus on more than one issue, but each issue needs to be explained. Please print and bring your letter to the studio tomorrow. Time to complete this letter: 1 hour MAX.

= Week 1 Studio =

Part 1: Wednesday matinee
Instructions: Today you will have the opportunity to watch two videos showcasing completed iGEM projects. "iGEM" stands for the "international Genetically Engineered Machines" competition. It is a summer-long opportunity for teams of students working at colleges and universities around the world to design and build genetically engineered machines, many of which use standard biological parts from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. The videos will orient you to the kinds of accomplishments realized in a summer by teams of undergraduates and their advisers.

Our first feature presentation
Our first featured presentation will emphasize some of the "biology" that's often present in "synthetic biology." As a class we'll watch: In watching their project we can focus on Note that this team developed a tremendously useful website that describes both their project, their human practice work and the basic background a person might need to understand the work. If your molecular biology is rusty, you can refresh your memory | here
 * the 2008 iGEM team from Heidelberg describing a genetically-engineered bacteria that will find, and kill pathogenic bacteria presentation video [[Media:Heidelberg.pdf| presentation ppt]]
 * cell-cell communication, sensing and chemotaxis
 * our ppt review of these processes is [[Media:20.20(S09) review Sensing&Chemotaxis.ppt| here]]
 * phage life cycles, DNA transfer mechanisms and "parts"
 * our ppt review of these processes is [[Media:20.20(S09) review lambda.ppt| here]]

Our second feature presentation
Our second featured presentation will emphasize some of the "engineering" that can be accomplished in a summer by a talented group of undergrads much like yourselves. We'll listen to Their project will allow us to focus on
 * the 2006 iGEM team from MIT describing a neat project for fine chemical synthesis presentation video [[Media:IGEM2006-MIT-Powerpoint.ppt| presentation ppt]]
 * programming genetic logic, growth phases of bacterial cultures, ethical questions of human experimentation
 * our ppt review of these processes is [[Media:20.20(S09) review EauD'coli.ppt| here]]

After each presentation
You will have 10 minutes to gather with your fellow moviegoers and discuss what you saw, using these "iGEM review questions" as a guide for your conversations:
 * 1) what was the problem this team chose to address and why?
 * 2) is this an important problem and why or why not?
 * 3) did they succeed in part or in total?
 * 4) are there aspects of the work that are unclear to you?
 * 5) if you could ask this team one question what would it be?

Part 2: Dear John
As homework you were asked to draft a letter describing a real world problem or opportunity you have inherited that could be addressed in the near term. You should discuss these letters at your team tables and make some notes about them on the white boards. For example, After about an hour of discussion at your tables, you'll have a chance to hear from the other groups. Be sure to take notes on your letter about any new ideas, clarifications, or thoughts you have from the discussion. You will turn in a revised letter before tomorrow. (and note that if you've finished your discussion about the letters early you can get to work on the homework below).
 * who were they addressed to?
 * how many problems/opportunities did each letter address?
 * what areas were tackled?
 * how many also proposed solutions to these problems?

Homework for tomorrow's challenge session
1. To solidify the biology and engineering that's associated with the two projects we studied today, please look at the documentation of their project (here for Heidelberg 2008 and here for MIT 2006) and answer the following questions: When you are finished, please upload your assignment to your "Personal Design Portfolio" in the homework dropbox., calling your assignment: FirstInitial_LastName_PDP_1.doc, for example: B_Obama_PDP_1.doc 2. You should revise your letter based on any feedback you received from your classmates today. When you are finished, please upload your letter to your "Personal Design Portfolio" in the homework dropbox., calling your assignment: FirstInitial_LastName_PDP_2.doc, for example: J_McCain_PDP_2.doc Time to complete this letter revision and answer these questions: 1 hour MAX.
 * The Heidelberg team built two chimeric receptors to drive chemotaxis in response to AI-2. What successes did they realize? What experiment didn't work? What will they try next?
 * The lambda phage built by the Heidelberg team had both a selectable drug marker (CamR) and an origin to enable the phage to transfer via the F pilus (oriT). However the phage wasn't able to lyse either the predator strain it resided in, or the prey strains it infected. Why (you'll have 2 different answers here)?
 * We didn't spend a great deal of time in class discussing the Colicin experiments that the Heidelburg team worked out. In your own words, please describe this component of their work: what was their "prey"? what was their "killer"? How did they expect this system to work? Did they build and test this?
 * Do you believe, as this team does, that "science communication" is the basis for the formation of public opinion and acceptance of new technologies? Give an example of an effective and an ineffective approach to scientific communication.
 * The MIT team made some "on the fly" adjustments to their project based on early data collected. For instance they decided to control the banana smell for expression in stationary phase since the smell overwhelmed the wintergreen. Could they have used a computer simulation of their system to make this decision? Why or why not?

= Week 1 Thursday =

Challenge: Sexy on the inside 2

 * 1) Watch this video in which Gever Tulley talks about learning by doing.
 * 2) Watch this video of a person taking apart a MacBook Air
 * 3) Working in groups of 3, you will take apart a tape recorder. One person should work the tools, another should record the process (e.g. "began by taking off back panel), another should keep a parts list (e.g. "4 Phillips-screws 3 mm long from back panel") and should record the purpose of each component (e.g. "Phillips screws held back panel in place). Your team's goal is to disassemble the tape recorder into the greatest number of re-usable parts... note of the word "reusable" since next time we meet, the goal will be to reassemble your tape recorder into a working machine. As you work, you may find it helpful to describe what you think each component does and if it's made of sub-components that can be separated further without forever destroying the component's function.
 * 4) *"One of the problems of taking things apart and seeing how they work--supposing you're trying to find out how a cat works--you take that cat apart to see how it works, what you've got in your hands is a non-working cat," Douglas Adams
 * 5) If there's time, watch this video showing the inner life of the cell, an understanding largely achieved by scientific "take apart" techniques.

Homework for next week's challenge session

 * 1) Over the next week we'll be turning the letter you wrote into a script and then a story board. The script should be fun to write and doesn't have to win you a Pulitzer Prize since you'll be turning it into a comic book. For inspiration, look through Adventures in SB. Then, using the problem or opportunity you described in your letter, draft a two chapter script for a comic book using characters from your imagination. In chapter 1, have the characters talk about the problem or opportunity. In chapter 2, have the characters brainstorm a way to solve the issue. Before next Tuesday's challenge session, please upload your letter to your "Personal Design Portfolio" in the homework dropbox., calling your assignment: FirstInitial_LastName_PDP_3.doc, for example: H_Clinton_PDP_3.doc You should also print out a copy to bring to the 20.020 studio time next Wednesday.  Time to complete this script: 1 hour MAX.
 * 2) Complete survey. Click here to start It should only take ~10 minutes. Please note that this is NOT the same survey that the Project-Based Learning Center might have asked you to complete.