Assignments

Writing Assignments

About a third of the way into the course you will have to write an abstract to a previously published paper (you will receive the paper without the abstract). Along with the abstract you will have to turn in a short paragraph discussing whether the paper you were given was a scientific or an engineering paper.

About two thirds of the way into the course you will have to turn in a short (3-4 page) paper describing somewhat in detail one of the techniques or methods we encountered in the class readings. Include a short section discussing the differences in the uses and usefulness of the technique for scientific and engineering applications. The first draft of the paper will be due two weeks before the assignment due date. I will edit that draft to give you a chance to improve it for the final submission.

Example of published paper with a removed abstract section. (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 2.0 MB)

Oral Presentations

Several times through the semester, you will be asked to give a short formal introduction to one of the papers discussed in class that day. Your introduction should include what you think the main point of the paper was, what you thought was particularly interesting about the paper, and any part or idea in the paper that deserves scrutiny, if any. These should be low-stress assignments, as they are designed to help you improve your formal speaking skills in preparation for final presentations.

At the end of the semester, you will be required to present a published paper as your own. The topic and the paper itself can be a follow-up on anything discussed in class or a completely independent topic related to the overall theme of the seminar. The presentation must include an introduction that briefly reviews relevant literature, a hypothesis or a model, a set of experiments to test the hypothesis or validate the model, experimental results, and interpretations of these results. Your presentation should highlight scientific and engineering aspects of the paper. The format of the presentation should follow the format of the paper.

Student Work

The example student work in the table below is included courtesy of the students named and used with their permission.

STUDENTs WRITING ASSIGNMENT 1 WRITING ASSIGNMENT 2 oral presentations

Anonymous

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Bioluminescence: Science and Engineering Applications (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

Engebrecht, J., K. Nealson, and M. Silverman. "Bacterial bioluminescence: isolation and genetic analysis of functions from Vibrio fischeri." Cell 32, no. 3 (March 1983): 773-81.

Weiss, Ron, and Thomas F. Knight. "Engineered Communications for Microbial Robotics." In DNA 2000, Lecture Notes in Computer Science. (DNA Computing: 6th International Workshop on DNA-Based Computers, Leiden, The Netherlands, June 13-17, 2000.) Edited by A. Condon. Vol. 2054. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag GmbH, 2001, pp. 1-16. ISSN: 03029743.

Yan, H., S. H. Park, G. Finkelstein, J. H. Reif, and T. H. LaBean. "DNA-templated self-assembly of protein arrays and highly conductive nanowires." Science 301, no. 5641 (September 26, 2003): 1882-4.

Anonymous

(This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

The Development of Genetic Circuitry (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

Engebrecht, J., K. Nealson, and M. Silverman. "Bacterial bioluminescence: isolation and genetic analysis of functions from Vibrio fischeri." Cell 32, no 3 (March 1983): 773-81.

Weiss, Ron, and Thomas F. Knight. "Engineered Communications for Microbial Robotics." In DNA 2000, Lecture Notes in Computer Science. (DNA Computing: 6th International Workshop on DNA-Based Computers, Leiden, The Netherlands, June 13-17, 2000.) Edited by A. Condon. Vol. 2054. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag GmbH, 2001, pp. 1-16. ISSN: 03029743.

Yokobayashi, Y., R. Weiss R, and A. H. Arnold. "Directed Evolution of a Genetic Circuit." Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A. 99, no. 26 (December 2002): 16587-91.

Ramachandra, M., A. Rahman, A. Zou, M. Vaillancourt, J. A. Howe, D. Antelman, B. Sugarman, G. W. Demers, H. Engler, D. Johnson, and P. Shabram. "Re-engineering adenovirus regulatory pathways to enhance oncolytic specificity and efficacy." Nat Biotechnol 19, no. 11 (November 2001): 1035-41.

Anonymous

(This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

Polymerase Chain Reaction (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 1.1 MB)

Augusten, L., R. A. Bowen, and M. Rouge, Contributors. "Thermostable DNA Polymerases." In Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering. Colorado State University: Colorado, December 1999.

Don, R. H., P. T. Cox, B. J. Wainright, K. Baker, and J. S. Mattick. "Touchdown PCR to circimvent spurious priming during gene amplification." Nucleic Acid Research 19, no. 14 (April 1999): 4008.

"Polymerase Chain Reaction." Wikipedia (April 2005).

"Taq DNA Polymerase with ThermoPol Buffer." New England Biolabs, Inc.

"Touchdown PCR." Wikipedia (March 2005).

Basu, S., Y. Gerchman, C. H. Collins, F. H. Arnold, and R. Weiss. "A synthetic multicellular system for programmed pattern formation." Nature 434, no. 7037 (April 28, 2005): 1130-4.

Anonymous

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The Magic of Magnetism (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

Adleman, L. M. "Molecular computation of solutions to combinatorial problems." Science 266, no. 5187 (November 11, 1994): 1021-4.

(PDF)

Yu, L. S., J. Uknalis, and S. I. Tu. "Immunomagnetic separation methods for the isolation of Campylobacter jejuni from ground poultry meats." J Immunol Methods 256, no. 1-2 (October 1, 2001): 11-8.

Mark Garcia

(This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

(This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

Weiss, Ron, and Thomas F. Knight. "Engineered Communications for Microbial Robotics." In DNA 2000, Lecture Notes in Computer Science. (DNA Computing: 6th International Workshop on DNA-Based Computers, Leiden, The Netherlands, June 13-17, 2000.) Edited by A. Condon. Vol. 2054. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag GmbH, 2001, pp. 1-16. ISSN: 03029743.

(PDF)

Rothemund, P. W. "Using lateral capillary forces to compute by self-assembly." Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A. 3, no. 97 (February 1, 2000): 984-9.

Erin Mathewson

(This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

Formation of DNA Nanotubes to Produce Nanowires (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

Liu, D., S. H. Park, J. H. Reif, and T. H. LaBean. "DNA nanotubes self-assembled from triple-crossover tiles as templates for conductive nanowires." Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A. 101, no 6 (January 6, 2004): 717-722.

(PDF)

Kobayashi, H., M. Kaern, M. Araki, K. Chung, T. S. Gardner, C. R. Cantor, and J. J. Collins. "Programmable cells: interfacing natural and engineered gene networks." Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A. 22, no 101 (June 1, 2004): 8414-9. Epub May 24, 2004.

Kate Stafford

(This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)

Microbial Signaling Systems: Methods and Applications (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF - 1.1 MB)

Weiss, Ron, and Thomas F. Knight. "Engineered Communications for Microbial Robotics." In DNA 2000, Lecture Notes in Computer Science. (DNA Computing: 6th International Workshop on DNA-Based Computers, Leiden, The Netherlands, June 13-17, 2000.) Edited by A. Condon. Vol. 2054. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag GmbH, 2001, pp. 1-16. ISSN: 03029743.

(PDF)

Kuhlman, B., G. Dantas, G. C. Ireton, G. Varani, B. L. Stoddard, and D. Baker. "Design of a novel globular protein fold with atomic-level accuracy." Science 302, no. 5649 (November 21, 2003): 1364-8.