Synthetic Biology

What the presentation will outline: • What is synthetic biology? • Standardisation of parts for construction • Engineering principles for biology • Abstraction • Standardisation • Decoupling

Jim Haseloff is a plant biologist working at the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge. His scientific interests are focused on the engineering of plant morphogenesis, using microscopy, molecular genetic, computational and synthetic biology techniques. Prior to joining Department of Plant Sciences, Jim served as group leader at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge and his group developed advanced imaging techniques and modified fluorescent proteins for efficient use in plants. Before this, Jim served as research fellow at Harvard Medical School, working on trans-splicing ribozymes. He also served as postdoctoral fellow at CSIRO, Division of Plant Industry, Canberra, and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge. He developed methods for the design of the first synthetic RNA enzymes with novel substrate specificities. Jim attended University of Adelaide where he studied RNA genetics of viroids and earned a Doctorate degree in 1983. His core expertise includes synthetic biology, developmental genetics, computational biology, molecular biology, microscopy and scientific visualisation techniques and an interest in homebrew instrumentation. Jim is deeply involved with teaching Synthetic Biology at the University of Cambridge, and is very interested in its wider potential as a teaching tool for biology.