From csbi-events at mit.edu Wed Feb 8 09:30:27 2006 From: csbi-events at mit.edu (CSBi events) Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2006 09:30:27 -0500 Subject: [CSBi-events] (Reminder) CSBi Seminar Series-2/10/06 (Dr. Arkin) Message-ID: Dear CSBi Community, This note simply serves as a reminder of our upcoming CSBi Seminar Series event on Friday, February 10. Please join us if your schedule permits! Thank you. Dr. Adam P. Arkin Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Departments of Bioengineering and Chemistry University of California, Berkeley "Adversity, Diversity and the Design for Dynamics and Evolution of Cellular Networks: From Bacterial Signaling to HIV gene expression" Friday, February 10, 2006 Maclaurin Building (3-270) 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. Light refreshments served at 2:45 p.m. Abstract In times of adversity or stress organisms are forced to adapt or evolve to survive. In either case, the population may diversify its response; nongenetically in the former case and by mutation in the latter. Diversification may be shown to be an optimal survival strategy in certain types of environments and with particular sensing capabilities. Here we explore the molecular mechanisms and cellular network designs that adapt an organism to its particular niche and which control population diversity across the different time scales of adaptation and evolution. Using comparative genomics, quantitative measurement, and dynamical modeling, we examine the evolution and dynamics of particular cellular strategies from B. subtilis stress response diversification to exploitation of noise in the HIV gene expression program. Host: Dr. Andrew Endy Biological Engineering Division Contact: Isadora Deese 617.253.5494 Sponsored by CSBi http://csbi.mit.edu/ Annual CSBi Seminar Series in Computational and Systems Biology The entire MIT Community is welcome to attend! -- Brenda E. Pepe Administrative Assistant to Dr. Christopher B. Burge Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Biology, Room 68-223 Cambridge, MA 02139 tel 617.452.3885 | fax 617.452.2936 From csbi-events at mit.edu Tue Feb 21 09:24:04 2006 From: csbi-events at mit.edu (CSBi events) Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 09:24:04 -0500 Subject: [CSBi-events] CSBi Seminar Series-3/3/06 (Dr. Drew Endy) Message-ID: Dear CSBi Community, This note simply serves to notify you of our upcoming CSBi Seminar Series event on Friday, March 3rd. Please join us if your schedule permits! Thank you. Dr. Andrew Endy Cabot Assistant Professor Biological Engineering Division Massachusetts Institute of Technology "Languages and Grammars for Programming DNA" Friday, March 3, 2006 Maclaurin Building (3-270) 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. Light refreshments served beginning at 2:45 p.m. Abstract Recent investments in fabrication process engineering have improved the technology of DNA synthesis such that it is now reasonable to construct synthetic genes and small viral genomes. Expected improvements in synthesis technology are sufficient to encourage several groups to begin work constructing synthetic bacterial genomes and yeast chromosomes. The advent of large-scale synthesis technology will directly impact the science of genetics, promoting "perturbation design" as a new foundational approach (building on past foundations in logic, mapping, and pattern recognition). Synthesis also directly enables the engineering of genetic and genetically-encoded systems. However, today, biological engineering lacks any robust framework that supports making good use of synthesis to encode useful, many-component integrated biological systems. While we can write DNA, we have very little to say. Here, I'll review the current state of gene and genome synthesis technology, our initial framework for programming DNA, and discuss ongoing research to improve this framework. Host: Dr. Douglas A. Lauffenburger Biological Engineering Division Contact: Isadora Deese 617.253.5494 Sponsored by CSBi http://csbi.mit.edu/ Annual CSBi Seminar Series in Computational and Systems Biology The entire MIT Community is welcome to attend! -- Brenda E. Pepe Administrative Assistant to Professor Christopher B. Burge Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Biology, 68-223 31 Ames Street Cambridge, MA 02139 Tel: 617-452-3885 Fax: 617-452-2936