Date/Time
Date(s) - Sunday, January 7, 2018
3:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Location
Biotech Without Borders

Categories No Categories

A 12-hour class in 3 weekend sessions: January 7, 14 & 21st – 3-7PM

What if building a new life form was as easy as Lego bricks? Synthetic biology aims to simplify genetic engineering by creating libraries of DNA ‘parts’ that can be hooked together to form biological circuits. This has the added benefit of making it accessible to everyone, not just scientists. DNA is your source code. But can we think of DNA as a collection of circuits and routines that keep us alive? Synthetic Biology is the science of standardizing DNA ‘parts’, much like resistors and capacitors are standardized in electronics. In this class you will learn the theory and practice of Synbio, a discipline that is enabling a new wave of biotech startups to thrive. You will learn SBOL, the visual language of synthetic biology, and how to use online registries of DNA parts to design new and useful biological circuits. By the end of class, your will have designed and built a biosensor circuit and loaded your DNA program into a bacteria cell.

It’s helpful to have basic lab skills taught in our introductory class (or equivalent). Minimum age is 13, and anyone under 18 must be accompanied by a parent.

Instructor

Dr. Ellen Jorgensen is president of Biotech Without Borders, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting science literacy and hands-on access to biotechnology.  In 2009 she cofounded Genspace, named one of the World’s Top 10 Innovative Companies in Education by Fast Company. Her efforts to promote low-cost bio-innovation are featured in Nature, Science, Discover, Wired, Make, BBC News, Dan Rather, PBS News, Discovery Channel, and The NY Times.  She has a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, spent many years in the biotechnology industry, and is faculty at Cooper Union. Her TED talks (Biohacking: You Can Do It Too and What You Need To Know About CRISPR) have received over 2M views. Fast Company named her one of their Most Creative Leaders in Business