Systems Biology 204: Biomolecular Engineering and Synthetic Biology 2012
Link to updated website for SysBio204 2014
Course overview
- A course focusing on the rational design, construction, and applications of nucleic acid and protein-based synthetic molecular and cellular machinery and systems. Students are mentored to produce substantial term projects.
- Intended for graduate students in Systems Biology, Biophysics, Engineering, Biology and related disciplines. No formal prerequisites. Projects are tailored to each student's strengths and interests.
- Website: http://synthetic-biology-class.net, http://sb204.net
- Poster
Midterm and Final
- There will be two midterms and one final project for this class
- Policy: strict submission deadline, we encourage you to submit your work the night before
- Midterm #1 due: Wed. Oct. 3, 12pm
- Midterm #2 due: Mon. Oct. 22, 12pm
- Final project due: Wed. Nov. 28, 2am
- Method of submission: email TA your slides and presentations
- Midterm and Final Projects
Logistics
- Instructors: George Church, William Shih, Pamela Silver, Peng Yin
- Meeting time: 2 pm – 3:30 pm, Mon/Wed, Fall 2012
- Location: Room 521, Wyss Institute, 3 Blackfan circle, Boston, 02115
- First class on Wednesday Sep 5th.
- Location: CLSB521
- No exams
- Prerequisites: none
- Grading
- 20% Participation
- 40% Midterm projects
- 40% Final project
- Harvard Course Site
Background Info and previous class projects
Example topics for final design project
- miRNA pattern recognition in eukaryotic cells
- Directed evolution of chemical sensors
- Nano-breadboards for probing electron transport in proteins
- Altered genetic codes and amino acid alphabets
- Modification of proteins for function in harsh environments
- Automatable assembly of large synthetic genes and circuits
- Synthetic biology of stem cells and epigenetic reprogramming pathways
- Structural re-engineering of adenoviruses
- Artificial chemotactic swimmers
- Nonequilibrium networks of nano-machines mimicking dynamic instability in the cytoskeleton
- Recombinase-based multi-state memory in bacteria
- Exosome manufacturing
- Self-assembled solar energy harvester based on bio-inorganic nano-antennae for uv-vis
- Systematic debugging of DNA labeling chemistries by atomic-resolution TEM imaging of DNA origami
- Transcriptional activation and repression through rational molecular design
- Tissue engineering scaffold nano-materials
- Programmable multistep chemical synthesis by templating on catalytic nanostructures
- Ultra-sensitive signal processing for synthetic biology
- Antibody 2.0
- Synthetic nanostructure - virus conjugates
- Replication of information in synthetic crystals
- Cheap large-scale production of protein or DNA-based materials
- Etc. Etc. Etc.
Recent changes
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