New Phytologist Synthetic Biology Workshop: SynBio toolboxes for de novo peptide synthesis

by Charis Cook
Categories: synthetic biology
Tags: , ,
Comments: 2 Comments
Published on: June 26, 2012

As exciting as this research in this post is, to me as a humble traditional molecular biologist the most impressive ‘toolboxes’ were the truly synthetic ones involving no genes at all. Dek Woolfson (University of Bristol) and Samuel Stupp (Northwestern University, USA) presented astonishing work on custom peptides.

The Woolfson group is working towards making a toolbox for building proteins. They chose to work on α-helical coiled-coils because these peptide structures have that essential orthogonality built in – the correct peptides form coiled-coils irrespective of the surrounding domains, which can then be customised to fit the designer’s requirements. The group is now able to synthesise a number of structures using coiled-coils.

from Moutevelis and Woolfson (2009) JMB 385:726 (Click on image to go to paper)

(more…)

Plant Sentinels and Robolobsters at the New Phytologist Synthetic Biology Workshop

by Charis Cook
Categories: synthetic biology
Tags: , , ,
Comments: No Comments
Published on: June 15, 2012

In the rainy aftermath of last week’s Jubilee celebrations, a group of synthetic biologists gathered in Bristol for the 4th New Phytologist Workshop. Participants were treated to three days of stimulating talks on a wide range of topics all considered to be ‘Synthetic Biology.’ GARNet was there, and will be posting highlights, like the plant sentinel in the video below.

Video courtesy of the Medford Lab at Colorado State University.

So what is synthetic biology? The consensus definition of synthetic biology, or synbio, appears to be  ‘the design and construction of novel biologically based parts, devices and systems from first principles, or the re-design of existing natural systems for useful purposes.’

Synbio differs from traditional science by viewing biological systems as an engineer would view a machine – something to be created, not necessarily something that needs to be fully understood. The process consists of a cycle of hypothesis, computer aided design, production of molecule or system, analysis of results, repeat. Creating synthetic biology tools and resources (libraries of promotors, active sites, peptide sequences … the list is endless) of course involves a great deal of understanding of biological systems, but to an extent the unknown remains unknown, the most important thing is that you understand how the building blocks of your synthetic system work.

(more…)

page 2 of 2»

Follow Me
TwitterRSS
GARNetweets
Categories
April 2025
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
282930  

Recent Posts
  • MASC Annual Report 2020-2021 by Geraint

    Over the past thirty years the Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee (MASC) has represented the global Arabidopsis community through its collaborative oversight of the annual International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR), production of a MASC annual report and preparation of the series of decadal Roadmaps that have helped coordinate the future activities of the community. In[…]

  • Introducing NAASC Inclusivi… by Geraint
  • International Plant Systems… by Geraint

    https://meetings.embo.org/event/20-plant-systems This EMBO Workshop on international Plant Systems Biology (iPSB) is the central gathering of plant systems biology researchers from across the world. Climate change poses unique challenges for how to feed and power humanity without further degrading the environment. Plant science therefore is a key discipline in meeting the challenge of adapting food and[…]

  • #UKPlantSciPresents 2021 Sp… by Geraint

    The spring season of #UKPlantSciPresents begins on January 12th and we have a strong schedule set until the end of April! Each webinar is at Tuesday afternoon at 3pm GMT (or BST)! Registration is free and webinars will be made freely available soon after the event. Although closed captioning/subtitles are not available for live webinars,[…]

  • #UKPlantSciPresents Webinar… by Geraint

    The previously awesome #GARNetPresents webinar series is morphing into the #UKPlantSciPresents webinar series. This series has the aim of promoting plant science excellence across the UK! UK plant science research uses many different experimental organisms such as Arabidopsis, Wheat, Brassicas, Brachypodium, Marchantia, Physomitrella and many others. This webinar series is supported by both GARNet and[…]

  • GARNish Edition 33: GENOMIC… by Geraint

    Contents: – Society Updates– Introducing Quantitative Plant Biology– Congratulations to Ottoline Leyser– Conference Updates– Bacterial Plant Diseases Programme– Introducing CHAP– Twenty Years of GARNet– GARNet Research Roundup– MASC Publication Update– Plant RNA Interactome Capture– Update on new BBSRC Projects– Spotlight on University of Nottingham Download here: https://www.garnetcommunity.org.uk/sites/default/files/newsltr/GARNish33_Online_Final_0.pdf

  • Marcel Bach-Pages describes… by Geraint

    Marcel Bach-Pages works with Gail Preston at the University of Oxford and we discuss a new protocol to identify the RNA-Binding Proteome from Arabidopsis leaves. This community-focused work includes full instructions for use of the protocol and they provide an accessible list of proteins that they have identified. This research is published in Biomolecules and[…]

  • GARNet Research Roundup: Ju… by Geraint

    This edition of GARNet Research Roundup begins with a remarkable four papers that include work from Caroline Dean’s lab at the John Innes Centre. The first two papers are collaborations with members of Martin Howard’s lab and look at the molecular mechanisms that control long-term cold sensing or the antisense regulation of FLC respectively. The[…]

  • Christos Velanis discusses … by Geraint

    Christos Velanis works at the University of Edinburgh and discusses work published in PloS Genetics entitled ‘The domesticated transposase ALP2 mediates formation of a novel Polycomb protein complex by direct interaction with MSI1, a core subunit of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2)‘. http://blog.garnetcommunity.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Velanis_edit-13072020-09.32.mp3 Pumi Perera is co-first author on this work from the Goodrich lab[…]

  • Plant Science Conference U… by Geraint

    This has been a challenging time for both conference organisers and conference venues. Most 2020 plant science conferences have cancelled, postponed or majorly changed their events. Below is a non-exhaustive list of the changes that have been made to different conferences. Up to date as July 6th 2020. (download)

Categories
Recent Comments
  • Brown Ada about Arabidopsis Research Roundu…
    Interested in the standards for biology synthesis for taking reference inchemistry synthesis
  • Leesa Johnson about Standardising DNA parts for…
    Hi Geraint, I was facing some problem in understanding the Synthetic biology so for that I'm looking for a source…
  • Charis Cook about Photosynthesis for fresh water
    Hi Jeyannathann, thanks for your comment! These are all good questions. As this work is around four years in, the…
  • Jeyannathann… about Photosynthesis for fresh water
    With salt being accumulated within the cyanobacteria , am sure there is a limit until which the osmotic barrier can…
  • Lisa Martin about This much is known…Ar…
    If, like Andrew, you think you can make data beautiful, you might be interested in this competition sponsored by The…
  • Gustavo Habermann about What isn’t plant science?
    Dear Dr Charis Cook, My name is Gustavo Habermann, and I am a Prof. of "classical" plant physiology at the…
Welcome , today is Sunday, April 27, 2025