IEEE Computer and Engineering in Medicine and Biology Societies, MIT biological engineering and biomedical engineering student group (BE-BMES), and GBC/ACM

7:00 PM, Thursday, March 31, 2011
Broad Institute Auditorium (MIT building NE-30)

Making Synthetic Biologists - iGEM the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition
Randy Rettberg, MIT

Can simple biological systems be built from standard, interchangeable parts and operated in living cells? OR, is biology so complicated that every
case is unique? The minicomputer revolution thrived on
interchangeable parts from the TTL catalogue. There was a rich
explosion in computer companies, semiconductor companies, and the
industries that supported and used those computers. Today, the
biotechnology industries are like the mainframe companies of the
1960's. Can the engineering principles of standardization and
interchangeable parts create an industrial revolution of synthetic
biology based on standard parts? iGEM, the International Genetically
Engineered Machine Competition is implementing this vision. Each
year teams of undergraduate students are given a kit of 1000
biological parts as DNA. The parts include sensors for small
molecules, coding regions for various proteins, and other control
parts. Over the summer, the teams build systems from these parts and
make new parts of their own. They come together at MIT in the fall,
present their work, win prizes, and have fun meeting other new
synthetic biologists.

Randy Rettberg is the Founder and Director of iGEM at MIT.
Previously, he worked as a computer and network designer at BBN,
Apple, and Sun.

This joint meeting of the Boston Chapters of the IEEE Computer and
Engineering in Medicine and Biology Societies, the MIT biological
engineering and biomedical engineering student group (BE-BMES) and
GBC/ACM will be held in the Broad Institute Auditorium (MIT building
NE-30). The Broad Institute is on Main St between Vassar and Ames
streets. You can see it on a map at :
http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?zoom=level2&centerx=710846&centery=496467&oldzoom=level3&map.x=340&map.y=72
The auditorium is on the ground floor near the entrance.

Up-to-date information about this and other talks is available
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