Workshop 3: Synthetic Biology (January 25-29, 2010)
Organizers: Ron Weiss and Jeff Hasty
Synthetic biology is concerned with the design of genetic networks that perform desired functions in single cell and in multi-cellular environments. Such synthetic circuits can be used to gain insight into the molecular components of gene regulation, thus reducing the complexity of gene regulatory networks of cells. This emerging field holds promise for improved understanding of biological processes, and applications in varied areas such as programmed tissue engineering, biomaterial fabrication, and biosensing.
The construction of de-novo genetic circuits begins with assembly of genetic components that regulate transcription, translation, phosphorilation, and synthesis of the response to signaling molecules in bacteria and in Eukaryotes. These components are then assembled in various network topologies in a programmed fashion, which combines tools from nonlinear dynamics and statistical physics with extensive array of techniques in traditional molecular biology.
The workshop will begin with foundational technologies such as library parts, modules construction and prediction. Transcriptional networks with feedback and feedforward will then be presented. Applications will include engineering metabolic networks, cancer detection and therapy by engineered bacteria, biosensing, and energy production.
The workshop will bring together biologists, electrical engineers, and mathematical modelers. The mathematical tools will include network design, nonlinear dynamics, signal detection, and control theory.
Accepted Speakers
- Murat Acar (CBCD Fellow at the Center for Biological Circuit Design, Caltech)
- Adam Arkin (Bioengineering, UC Berkeley)
- Calin Belta (Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, and Bioinformatics, Boston University)
- Yaakov (Kobi) Benenson (FAS Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University)
- Matthew Bennett (Bioengineering and Institute for Nonlinear Science, UC San Diego)
- Rob Carlson (Biodesic)
- James Collins (Biomedical Engineering, Boston University)
- Andy Ellington (Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin)
- Matthew Francis (Chemistry, UC Berkeley)
- Timothy Gardner (Biomedical Engineering, Boston University)
- Jeff Hasty (Bioengineering, UC San Diego)
- Homme Hellinga (Biochemistry, Duke University)
- Kyung Hyuk Kim (Senior Fellow, Bioengineering Department, University of Washington, Seattle)
- Tom Magliery (Department of Chemistry & Department of Biochemistry, The Ohio State University)
- June Medford (Biology, Colorado State University)
- Alex Ninfa (Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan Medical School)
- Sven Panke (Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich)
- Kristala Prather (Chemical Engineering, MIT)
- John Reinitz (Applied Mathematics & Statistics, Stony Brook University)
- Scott Rifkin (Section of Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution, University of California, San Diego)
- Michael Savageau (Biomedical Engineering, UC Davis)
- David Schaffer (Chemical Engineering, UC Berkeley)
- Michael Simpson (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
- Jingdong Tian (Biomedical Engineering, Duke University)
- Ron Weiss (Electrical Engineering, Princeton University)
- Eckard Wimmer (Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Stony Brook University School of Medicine)
- Erik Winfree (Computer Science, Computation and Neural Systems Bioengineering, Caltech)
- Yohei Yokobayashi (Biomedical Engineering, UC Davis)
- Lingchong You (Biomedical Engineering, Duke University)
