Seminar - Wednesday 18 November 2009

"WHAT'S SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY AND DOES IT MEASURE UP?"

Dr Alistair Elfick
Centre for Biomedical Engineering
University of Edinburgh

Location: Dept of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Sheffield
Time: 2pm

Abstract:
Synthetic Biology has captured imaginations with its promise of a future where the rational engineering of function may be achieved using biology as a substrate. The adoption of an approach truly grounded in the engineering tenets of abstraction and standardisation will thus transform "Genetic Engineering" for the 21st Century.
When we engineer new functionality into a biological organism we need robust and accurate ways to interrogate our system to ensure correct operation. For full characterisation we may be looking at an extensive range of single cell and population based measures, utilising some sort of reporting machinery – often fluorescent protein expression. It is the case that the reporting machinery used may place significant
energetic or metabolic load on the cell. In this seminar I will review current measurement standards and reporting strategies and consider alternatives which are being developed as measurement systems for Synthetic Biology.