Week 7 HW: Genetic Circuits II - Neuromorphic Circuits

Intracellular Artificial Neural Networks (IANNs)

  1. What advantages do IANNs have over traditional genetic circuits, whose input/output behaviors are Boolean functions?

IANNs are interesting and different than traditional genetic circuits becuase their inputs are continous molecular concentrations. So a basic artificial neuron can take 2 inputs and have an output that is a constantly changing and evolving based on the changing concentration amounts of the inputs. They are able to therefore handle more complexity than traditional genetic circuits. You might need multiple genetic circuits to create calculations IANNs can do.

  1. Describe a useful application for an IANN; include a detailed description of input/output behavior, as well as any limitations an IANN might face to achieve your goal.

Fungal Materials

  1. What are some examples of existing fungal materials and what are they used for? What are their advantages and disadvantages over traditional counterparts?

  2. What might you want to genetically engineer fungi to do and why? What are the advantages of doing synthetic biology in fungi as opposed to bacteria?

First DNA Twist Order