Week 7 - Neuromorphic Networks

Assignment Part 1: Intracellular Artificial Neural Networks (IANNs)

Week 7 Homework Overview

Questions

1. What advantages do IANNs have over traditional genetic circuits, whose input/output behaviors are Boolean functions?
2. 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.
3. Below is a diagram depicting an intracellular single-layer perceptron where the X1 input is DNA encoding for the Csy4 endoribonuclease and the X2 input is DNA encoding for a fluorescent protein output whose mRNA is regulated by Csy4. Tx: transcription; Tl: translation.

Designing IANNs with the Neuromorphic Wizard

Assignment Part 2: 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?