Homework
Weekly homework submissions:
Week 1 HW: Principles and Practices
DNA Based Human Memory Storage and Governance I want to develop a DNA based memory storage system that encodes key aspects of a person’s memories or life history into synthetic DNA, with the intent that these memories could be stored long term and potentially be made inheritable across generations. DNA is already being explored as a long term medium for digital information, with approaches using synthetic DNA and enzymatic DNA synthesis for data archiving. In my concept, instead of just archiving arbitrary digital files, the system would encode structured “memory blocks” (e.g., life events, medical history, personal preferences, etc) into DNA segments that are linked, similar to a blockchain, where each new “block” references the previous one for integrity and auditability.
Week 2 HW: DNA Read, Write, & Edit
Working on catching up after being sick this past week. Apologies for the delay.
- Published Paper Using Opentrons for Novel Biological Applications Paper Reference: “Semiautomated Production of Cell-Free Biosensors” (ACS Synthetic Biology, 2024) Summary: This study demonstrates the use of the Opentrons OT-2 liquid handling platform to manufacture cell-free biosensor reactions with improved consistency and throughput compared to manual assembly. The researchers compared manual vs. semiautomated approaches for assembling fluoride-sensing biosensors, constructing an entire 384-well plate of reactions. The automation significantly reduced quality control issues and performance variability that typically plague manual biosensor assembly. The study validated that automated liquid handling could achieve detection outcomes close to expected performance while dramatically improving reproducibility and scaling potential.