Cambridge University Synthetic Biology Society

05/10/2021

You're keen to learn how biology can be engineered to solve humanity's big problems? Then come visit our stall at the University of Cambridge Fresher's Fair in Marquee 3!

14/10/2019

Last week SynBio Cambridge welcomed Prof Chris Myers, one of the founding fathers of SBOL, the Synthetic Biology Open Language, who was invited by the Department of Computer Science.

For everyone who couldn't attend the talk:
SBOL is an open standard for the representation of in silico biological designs. It provides a shared representation for flexibly constructing workflows that may involve many different types of biological engineering resources, tools, and processes (see image). SBOL is intended for users and software developers involved in the biology community, and scientists working within a wet lab. The scientific journal ACS Synthetic Biology recommends the use of SBOL to improve Synthetic Biology communication. (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssynbio.6b00146)

If you are interested in adopting the SBOL standard for the representation of your next synthetic biology project, here are a couple of links to guide you:

SBOL homepage: https://sbolstandard.org/
SBOL Designer: https://sboldesigner.github.io/ (biologist-friendly CAD software tool for creating and manipulating the sequences of genetic constructs)
SBOL overview paper: https://portlandpress.com/biochemsoctrans/article-lookup/doi/10.1042/BST20160347

13/10/2019

Hello everyone. Thanks for coming to meet us at the Freshers' Fair!
If you are interested in learning more about our society and the workshops which we plan to run, then please register your attendance to one of our two welcome talks!
Tue 15th: https://www.facebook.com/events/403029393985303
Sat 19th: https://www.facebook.com/events/2455666498089843

09/10/2019

For those interested: "A Standard-Enabled Workflow for Synthetic Biology", tomorrow in the Computer Lab!

A synthetic biology workflow is composed of data repositories that provide information about genetic parts, sequence-level design tools to compose these parts into circuits, visualization tools to depict these designs, genetic design tools to select parts to create systems, and modeling and simulati...

05/12/2018

Our friends at the Biomaker Initiative are running a technical challenge over the 2018-2019 winter - to produce graphical programming resources for new hardware in XOD, a visual programming interface used in the Biomaker Challenge to build low-cost sensors and instruments for biology. Successful proposals from teams or individuals will be provided with a low-cost development platform based on the Open-Smart Rich UNO R3 board, which contains a variety of embedded components. Learn more and apply via www.biomaker.org/information.

The deadline for proposals is 16 December, so get writing!

Summary: Biomaker is inviting applications for the Winter 2018-9 Challenge. Applicants will develop software nodes for integrating hardware with a new graphical programming interface, XOD. With a short-form application, all successful applicants will receive a hardware starter kit, document their pr...

06/11/2018

We were so happy to see so many people turn up to last week's workshop despite the week 5 blues, did we manage to get you in one of our pictures?

SynBioSoc is back this week with our last workshop of the term! Same place, same day, same time (BioMakespace, Sunday, 2pm).
Here is the link to the FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1993192277404015/?ti=cl

It's still not too late to join us at our workshop! Don't be shy to turn up, have a chat with us and find out what we have planned for Lent term ;)

01/11/2018

A bit of a late post this week (blame pre week 5 blues). Our workshops are still running through the term - same place, same day, same time (BioMakespace, Sunday, 2pm!).

Also, we welcome Eugene to the team as Bioproject Manager!

And if you haven't checked out our website yet, you can keep up to date with past workshops here: https://cusbs.soc.srcf.net/news-and-events/

Happy November! We're halfway through term~

Link to workshop 3 event: https://www.facebook.com/events/413198709211334/?notif_t=event_calendar_create¬if_id=1541028909192204

Uncategorized Workshop 2: Gibson assembly and transformation (28 October 2018) Posted on October 31, 2018 Today we continue where we left off at the end of last week’s workshop. After the appropriate primers were designed by our capable participants and the DNA fragments amplified by PCR, it was t...

23/10/2018

Some pictures from last Sunday's workshop featuring funky green gloves and Arin's intense dynamic explanations (things seem much calmer on Jarrod's side).

It was great to see a few new faces and we really do encourage you to join us at Biomakespace even if you haven't been to previous workshops.

Here is the link to the FB event for our next workshop: https://www.facebook.com/events/180187982870114/

See you!

15/10/2018

A big thank you to everyone who braved the rain to attend our introductory workshop at Biomakespace yesterday, we hope you enjoyed the session!
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you are slightly more experienced and are interested in other opportunities with SynBioSoc. (Interested in hardware anyone??)

The FB event for our next workshop is now published to remind you of the date and the time (which should be the same every week) so go check it out!

*Anyone remember how SBS members united and solved the great problem of the not so great HDMI cable? :D

14/10/2018

Since all the bioprojects are located at Biomakespace, here are some directions to help get you there and into the building!

Arin: "Here's a map to Biomakespace. If you're arriving by bike, go straight down Hills Road and then at the intersection with Queen Edith's way, turn right onto the cycle path on the right side of the road, and the Clifford Albutt Building will be on your right."

07/06/2018

Time for elections!

Please check your email for an email from Stefan for the link to vote.

20/05/2018

Don't forget to swing round to our AGM if your interested in hearing how the society is doing! Noon, today, Plant Sciences Department

17/11/2017

Check out next week's Café synthetique - Towards Engineering Circadian Rhythms

https://www.meetup.com/Cambridge-Synthetic-Biology-Meetup/events/236722701/

11/20, 6:00 PM: Circadian rhythms and cycling patterns of gene expression have great significance for living organisms - including ourselves! Find out more from our two speakers about the molecular ba

17/11/2017

05/11/2017

Register now for this talk on Tuesday! https://buff.ly/2z0R1bs

Join us Tuesday, 7 November 2017 at CRUK Cambridge Institute.

24/10/2017

Check out our bio-project managers blog - first entry up now! http://cusbs.soc.srcf.net/projects/biomake-a-thon-cell-free-expression-22-10-17

First piece of practical molecular biology for the CUSBS Bioproject 2017-2018