Homework
Weekly homework submissions:
Week 1 HW: Principles and Practices
Describe a biological engineering application or tool you want to develop and why I want to develop a soft material actuator powered directly by living cells rather than electronics or mechanical pumps. The system would use microbial metabolism, specifically gas produced during fermentation, to generate pressure inside a flexible chamber, allowing the material to inflate and perform mechanical work. Instead of using batteries, compressors, or microcontrollers, the material would respond to environmental conditions such as temperature or moisture because those conditions naturally regulate cellular activity. In this way, the environment becomes the control signal and biology becomes both the energy source and the actuator. If metabolic activity can reliably produce mechanical motion, it opens pathways toward deployable biohybrid interfaces, such as agricultural materials that respond to weather, environmental monitors that operate without batteries, or wearable materials that adapt to the human body. The goal is not to replace traditional machines but to investigate whether biological processes can serve as power, sensing, and control within soft matter systems.
Week 2 HW: DNA Read, Write, Edit
3.1. Choose your protein I chose miniSOG (mini Singlet Oxygen Generator) using the protein table from FPbase. It is described as a cyan fluorescent protein that can be controlled with blue light. When illuminated, the molecule absorbs energy and transfers it to nearby oxygen, briefly converting it into a reactive form called singlet oxygen. This state lasts only a few microseconds inside cells and travels about 10–20 nanometers, making it useful for nanoscale targeting. Because it can repeatedly trigger localized reactions without being consumed, it behaves more like a catalyst than a reagent.