OpenPlant Blog — OpenPlant

Call for abstracts for SynBio UK 2017

SynBio UK conference will showcase UK Synthetic Biology research and to create a focal point for the community, embracing its diversity and fostering its growth and engagement. Submit your abstract to the scientific programme now.

The UK is a world leader in science and engineering, and Synthetic Biology has been identified as an important area for our continued success. Key to that success is a cohesive, vibrant and multidisciplinary community, open to collaboration, open to advances, supportive of young talent, and driven to exceptional research with meaningful outcomes.

Synthetic Biology UK is a conference for the UK synthetic biology community and we look forward to seeing a good cohort from the Cambridge Synthetic Biology community attending!

SynBio UK 2017 is hosted by the Manchester SynBio Research Centre, SYNBIOCHEM, which specialises in synthetic biology for fine and speciality chemicals production.

Abstracts must be submitted by Monday 25 September 2017. Oral communication slots are available at this meeting. 

SPEAKERS INCLUDE

  • Anil Wipat (Newcastle University, United Kingdom)
  • Jason Chin (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, United Kingdom)
  • Jens Nielsen (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden)
  • Luke Alphey (Pirbright, United Kingdom)
  • Perdita Barran (University of Manchester, United Kingdom
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[Closes 14 July 2017] Postdoctoral Researcher - Single Cell Genomics

Job Vacancy: Postdoctoral Researcher to lead the development of next-gen sequencing tech to analyse single cells

The Macaulay Group at the Earlham Institute (formerly TGAC) is looking for an enthusiastic Postdoctoral Researcher to lead the development and implementation of next generation sequencing technologies to analyse single cells. This is an exciting opportunity to work on a BBSRC-funded project to explore transcriptional and epigenetic heterogeneity in individual haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells.

More details and application here

My OpenPlant Experience: Outreach, Engagement and 3D printing

Guest blog post by Roger Castells-Graells about his OpenPlant Fund project “Accessible 3D Models of Molecules”. Roger recently won a UEA Engagement Award in recognition of the work he has done both with OpenPlant and beyond.

 

PhD student Roger Castells-Graells in the lab

PhD student Roger Castells-Graells in the lab

My name is Roger and I am a PhD student in Prof. George Lomonossoff’s lab at the John Innes Centre in Norwich. My research project is about the production of virus-like particles to understand viral dynamics for future applications and to generate new bionanotechnological tools. I have a passion for science communication and public engagement and I have had numerous opportunities to communicate my science in Norwich, the UK and abroad since the start of my PhD.

My OpenPlant experience started in September 2016, when I attended a great Co-Lab workshop organized by the Open Science School and funded by an OpenPlant Fund. With this opportunity I had the chance to interact with scientists from different fields and also with designers and artists. It was an enriching experience and we developed a project called VRICKS (Virus Bricks) that aimed to generate tools to explain viruses in educational ways, like for example with paper models.

Following up from this workshop, in October 2016, I organized an activity for the Norwich Science Festival, together with Jenni Rant (The SAW Trust) and Colette Matthewman (OpenPlant), where we recreated the assembly of proteins into a virus protein coat using materials like paper and plastic, which represented the subunits of the virus. The public contributed to the assembly of a virus model, they learnt about related research from the Lomonossoff lab and they took home a build-at-home model. Over one hundred people participated in the activity during the weekend, making it a roaring success.

Presenting the virus activity and engaging with people at the Norwich Science Festival

Presenting the virus activity and engaging with people at the Norwich Science Festival

Following up with the interest to build tools to explain biological processes, such as virus assembly, I decided to apply for and OpenPlant Fund with the project “Accessible 3D Models of Molecules”. The project team is a multidisciplinary team (molecular biology, bioinformatics and engineering) of students from JIC and University of Cambridge and with this fund we are developing models of viruses and proteins using 3D printing technologies.

3D printed virus models for the OpenPlant Fund project
 
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3D printed virus models for the OpenPlant Fund project

Recently I presented some of the virus models in a high school with students aged 12 to 16 years old. The students enjoyed being able to handle and compare representations of real virus structures and were amazed that some of these structures were only discovered this year. When the school teacher was asked about how the use of educational 3D models in the classroom could benefit the learning process he answered that first of all it creates excitement and focuses the attention of the students. It is something completely new! It contributes to the understanding of three-dimensional models and gives the students a better sense of the reality of the object. Furthermore, it allows the students to calculate scale as it is possible to touch, measure and compare different models.

I was invited to speak at the Pint of Science Festival in Norwich in May, and gave a talk entitled “20000 Leagues under the microscope: Viruses & Nanomachines”. At the event, I passed around several models of 3D printed viruses and the public loved having the opportunity to handle them. It was a great experience and we received really positive feedback. I want to thank the organizers of Pint of Science for such a great event!

As a result of all of these activities, I was recently awarded a UEA Engagement Award 2016/17 for contribution to Public & Community Engagement, which I am very proud of.

  Norwich Pint of Science Festival tweets

 

 

Norwich Pint of Science Festival tweets

Roger tweets2b.png

With thanks to my supervisor Prof. George Lomonossoff, OpenPlant and all the people that have helped, encouraged me and opened up opportunities in this last year.