https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zubair-talib/index.htmlAbout me I’m Zubair Talib. I studied EE/CS at MIT in the 90’s. My master’s work was at MTL, building an image processing system for driverless vehicles. After presenting our work at an Intelligent Vehicle Control conference in the mid-90’s, I was certain we were late to market. :)Hugoenhttps://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zubair-talib/week-01-hw-project-ideas/index.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zubair-talib/week-01-hw-project-ideas/index.htmlIdea 1 — Glumen: a de novo gluten-binding protein Framing questions What do you want to make? → What living system could make it? → How could automation help you make it? → What would it take to make it at a meaningful scale? (1) What you would like to biomanufacture and why? Describe the target product or output you would like to make. Why are you interested in making it? Your motivation might be utilitarian—for example, addressing a problem in health, sustainability, food, energy, or manufacturing—but it does not need to be. Your project might instead have a social, cultural, artistic, or personal motivation. Clearly articulate what you want to make, who or what it is for, and why you think it is interesting or important.https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zubair-talib/week-02-hw-dna-design/index.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zubair-talib/week-02-hw-dna-design/index.htmlProject scope and AI assistance My HW1 project, Glumen, aims to produce a gluten-binding protein for a gluten detector. For HW2, I used an existing computational protein candidate to explore how to move from a protein sequence to a DNA expression design while the gluten-binder work continues. Much of this write-up was written by OpenAI Codex as an AI-assisted exploration of the topic. Codex also did substantial technical work: retrieving the candidate, generating and checking sequence files, helping inspect the design in VectorBee, and capturing screenshots. This is a learning exercise, not a claim that I independently designed or validated every element. I am still developing my understanding of the terminology and design choices.https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zubair-talib/week-03-hw-cell-free-design/index.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zubair-talib/week-03-hw-cell-free-design/index.htmlPart A — Compare cell-free reaction compositions Each question below shows my own working answer — arrived at with substantial AI research and help — followed by an AI cleaned-up version. See the note on AI use at the bottom. Part B — publishing 20 µL reaction compositions for sfGFP, PETase, and Reteplase on coopetition.htgaa.org, plus the Community Reagent contribution, is not included in this write-up yet.https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zubair-talib/final-project/index.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/zubair-talib/final-project/index.html