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 30 November, we will welcome talks from Ben Luisi, iDEC Cambridge Team and Chiara Gandini (Ogibiotec). Talks will start 6pm prompt.

• Talk Title: Dynamic ribonucleoprotein assemblies in the nuanced regulation and variation of bacterial gene expression
  Ben Luisi and Nida Ali, Department of Biochemistry

• Abstract: The lifetime of transcripts is a key aspect of the control of gene expression in all domains of life. In representative bacterial species, the turnover and processing of transcripts is mediated by multi-enzyme assemblies that can recruit small regulatory RNAs for targeted action on defined transcripts. The RNA-mediated control generates complex, inter-connected regulatory networks that underpin rapid responses to environmental changes and stresses, including exposure to antibiotics. One model for the process envisages a highly dynamic and cooperative series of steps, based on allosteric conformational switching and higher-order clustering, that achieves robust RNA-mediated gene regulation. Despite the fidelity and robustness, RNA mediated regulation may contribute to noise and diversity in the response of individual cells to stress, and we discuss examples of the potential impact on heterogeneity in populations and its implications for antibiotic resistance.
  

• Talk: Directed Evolution of Novel Intrinsically Disordered Proteins (IDPs) to Improve the Solubility of Recombinant Proteins

• iDEC Cambridge Team - The International Directed Evolution Competition (iDEC) is an annual global student and researcher initiative focused on education, technology sharing, and hands-on research in directed evolution and genetic engineering.

• Talk: Ogi3 minibioreactors: gain full-control of your microbial experiments
  Dr Chiara Gandini, Technical Sales Lead, Ogibiotec (formerly ŌGI Bio Ltd)
  
  Summary: The Ogi3 is a compact and modular cultivation system for precise monitoring and control of microbial cultures. Ogi3 supports experiments such as automated adaptive evolution, bioprocess optimisation and strain engineering, as well as controlled physiological studies capturing rich high-quality data while saving hands-on time and costs. We will show the modules available and some data from our collaborations. There will be an Ogi3 system on display
  

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