Café Synthetique

Café Synthetique is a meetup for the Cambridge synthetic and engineering biology community with informal talks, discussion and pub snacks. Speakers range from students and group leaders to industry professionals and entrepreneurs.

On Monday 19 January, 6pm, we will welcome talks from Professor Alexander Jones, Sainsbury Laboratory and the Cambridge iGEM Team:

"Cellular Decision Making in Plant Environmental Responses"
Alexander Jones, Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge

Plants, despite lacking sensory organs and centralized information processing, thrive in dynamic and challenging environments. The plant hormones play a key role in plants' ability to respond to the environment, for example abscisic acid (ABA) in water stress and salicylic acid (SA) in immunity stress. We have developed FRET biosensors for four plant hormones that are high-resolution and genetically-encoded, enabling us to visualize single-cell hormone dynamics in living plants. This has allowed us to uncover how hormonal signals are redistributed by environmental cues and the quantitative functions of these dynamics. For example, using ABA CONCENTRATION AND UPTAKE SENSOR 2 (ABACUS2) we discovered cellular ABA dynamics that coordinate root growth with leaf humidity stress, offering insights for irrigation agriculture under climate change. More recently, we engineered SALICYLIC ACID SENSOR 1 (SALICS1) by co-opting SA-mediated receptor protein interactions. Following optimisation along with in vitro and in vivo validations, we deployed SALICS1 to quantify SA hormone in cells exposed to a series of antagonistic biotic interactions, i.e. viral, bacterial, and fungal pathogens. By co-imaging SALICS1 and fluorescently labelled Pseudomonas syringae, we detected surges of SA spreading ahead of pathogen advance. A future goal is to use these and other tools not only to reveal how plants respond to environmental challenges, but also to engineer precise improvements to hormone dynamics to help crops thrive under stress.

"CamiRa (Crop assessment by miRNA analysis)"
Kim Anjarwalla and Alexander Gillan from Cambridge iGEM Team (International Genetically Engineered Machine is the world’s largest synthetic biology competition)

The Cambridge iGEM team - Camira - worked over the summer, on a cheap, all in one, diagnostic field test for plant miRNAs associated with stressors. Come hear a bit about the project, as well as a bit about the iGEM experience, from brainstorming ideas to the iGEM Jamboree. The team are looking forward to sharing the story behind how nine undergraduates, who started the summer with little to no research experience, managed to piece together a proof of concept diagnostic test, and win an iGEM gold medal

It would be great to see the community coming together again with free aromi food available! Drinks available to purchase at the bar. We look forward to seeing you at the Panton Arms, Cambridge 6pm-8pm.

Places are limited to 35. Please sign up here with full name and affiliation.

For questions or queries please contact Vicky Reid at vr314@cam.ac.uk