iGEM Congratulations to Newcastle

Neil Wipat [2008-11-21 05:31 AM]

Hi Nat,

Many thanks for the congratulations. Just for the record though, we (Newcastle) didn't win the whole competition. That prize went to the team from Slovenia.

We did pick up a gold medal though :-)

Alex Tolley [2008-11-21 08:22 AM]

Neil,
That looks very clever and I like the use of storable bacteria as a platform. This looks like it has many potential applications.

What I don't understand is how the ANN designs genetic circuits to make the detection work. A priori, it looks like this would be the wrong approach and that a rule based system would be more appropriate.

Are there links to papers that explain the design process in more detail?

Jennifer Hallinan [2008-11-25 02:36 AM]

Alex,

I'm another member of the Newcastle iGEM team. The reason we went with an ANN is because they're designed specifically for complex, poorly-understood systems, where you know the desired outcome, but not necessarily how to achieve it. Although the system we were working with for iGEM doesn't really need an ANN (as you say, a rule-based system would have been perfectly adequate), the plan is to extend it to more complex input-output mappings, where rule-based systems wouldn't work. It's an ongoing area of research for us, now that iGEM is over. Plus, we think the concept is pretty cute.

There will be a publication, as soon as we finish writing it!

Alex Tolley [2008-11-26 06:20 PM]

Jennifer,

Can you make sure that this blog get's notified of the paper on publication. I would be very interested to read it.

Alternatively, could you take my email and put me on the notification list.

Thanks.