Measurement/Webinars
Measurement Webinars and Office Hours
On this page you will find information on: Measurement Events Calendar, Office Hours, and Webinars.
This season the Measurement Committee will be hosting online events to connect with teams. Biweekly office hours to answer questions and a new series of weekly webinars to help iGEM teams with your projects!
Measurement Events Calendar
Timezones are displayed on UTC -04 (EDT), you can click on the box below to change them to a different UTC timezone.
Office Hours
Do you have questions about engineering and measurement for your project? Please join the Measurement Committee Office Hours to ask your questions! We will be running office hours on every other Tuesday starting June 9.
The final Office Hour is on Tuesday, August 18 at 1:00PM EDT
Zoom info for 1PM EDT office hours:
https://zoom.us/j/91580974836
Password: Answer this question - what year is it?
Ask a Question
You can also ask us questions using the anonymous form below and we will post answers online on our FAQ page!
Submit your questions below:
Direct Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Measurement_Questions
Webinars
The Measurement Committee is hosting a new series of weekly webinars to help iGEM teams with your projects! Planned topics include taking your ideas into the lab, designing DNA sequences, DNA part assembly from classical to modern methods, engineering your organism, modeling your project, measuring cellular phenotypes like fluorescence, and how to purify and characterize protein products. Register for the webinar series: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oPciCO3WQ3K1VMe1YVpq5g
Week 0 - Introduction to the Summer Webinars from the Measurement Committee
June 9: During this first session, we will briefly give an overview on the summer webinar series, describing what we hope to accomplish and what we hope that you will get out of attending. This webinar, and all of the following webinars, will be made available online after the webinar is finished. Additional related content can be found online.
- Part 1: Project Overview
- Part 2: Using Databases
- Part 3: Cloning Strategy
Week 1 - iGEM Summer Webinars: Getting Started
June 16: The first session of the iGEM Measurement committee’s summer webinars opens with an overview of how and where to start your project, as well as what you can plan and design. The second block will be a beginner’s guide on how to utilize databases effectively in conjunction with bioinformatics tools. We will end this session with an overview of the decision making process when choosing a cloning strategy.
Supplementary material:
- Databases & Bioinformatics Tools for Beginners Practicum DOWNLOAD (.DOCX file, 16KB)
- Webinar 1 Supplemental Materials and links DOWNLOAD (.DOCX file, 9KB)
- Part 1: Modeling - ODEs
- Part 2: Introduction to Hill Functions
- Part 3: Examples of Hill Functions
Week 2A - Modeling: ODEs and Hill Functions
June 23:In this Modeling Webinar (Part I) we will go from ODEs (ordinary differential equations) and the law of mass action to Hill functions, their derivation, and how to use them to model the regulation of gene expression and inducible promoters. Additionally, we will explore Hill functions and explain the effects of parameters on activators, repressors, hybrid promoters, and the corresponding protein expression levels of GFP or any other reporter gene.
Supplementary material:
- iGEM-Measurement-Tools Github Link : https://github.com/iGEM-Measurement-Tools/Modeling-Tutorials
- Part 1: DNA Parts
- Part 2: Part Collections
- Part 3: Basic Techniques
Week 2B - DNA parts and Basic Molecular Biology
June 23:In this molecular biology webinar, we will cover important concepts including, standard parts and why they are important in synthetic biology, what the iGEM registry is, and what a "part collection" is. Additionally, we will introduce you to core molecular biology techniques, giving you links to videos and protocols. Additionally, we will highlight a few important "part collections", the measurement data affiliated with these collections, and why these measurements as well as the part registry are so important when deciding what DNA parts to use.
Week 3A - Modeling circuits with ODEs and experimental data
June 30:In this modeling webinar (Part II) we will focus on how to use the previously learned concepts to model genetic circuits with ODEs and Hill functions. A circuit that is capable of "sense-compute-act" is used as an example. Then, we will learn how to relate this model with experimental data from this genetic circuit. Finally, we will focus on a more complex circuit, the Incoherent feed-forward motif to compare the results obtained from the model and its experimental measurements, enriching this way the model and completing one turn of the DBTL cycle.
Supplementary material:
- iGEM-Measurement-Tools Github Link : https://github.com/iGEM-Measurement-Tools/Modeling-Tutorials
- Part 1: Designing Primers
- Part 2: Golden Gate Assembly
- Part 3: MoClo (Modular Assembly)
Week 3B - DNA Assembly Techniques
June 30:In this molecular biology webinar, we will cover the creation of DNA primers for use in PCR reactions. We will also introduce the key concepts behind Golden Gate Assembly, why it is useful when working with DNA "parts", and then go into using Modular Cloning. There will be demonstrations of designing primers and using DNA parts that are Golden Gate compatible using various Web Apps. iGEM students should also review the iGEM partners page to learn about how to get free DNA synthesis services!
- Part 1: Designing Primers
- Part 2: Golden Gate Assembly
Week 4 - Gibson Assembly and Yeast
July 7:In this molecular biology webinar, we will cover what Gibson Assembly is and how to create a plasmid using this powerful technique. Additionally, we will go over some of the basics of working with yeast and how yeast can be used to also assemble large amounts of DNA using their endogenous pathways.
- Part 1: Theory of fluorescence
- Part 2: Calibrating for fluorescence and OD
- Part 3: Interpreting calibrated plate reader data
Week 5A - Quantifying fluorescence and cell count with plate readers
July 14:This webinar begins with a general introduction to fluorescence and OD, including a comparison of plate readers and other types of instruments, factors affecting fluorescence, and how to pick colors based on excitation and emission spectra. The second block of the webinar focuses on calibration of measurements for fluorescence and OD, and on debugging such measurements. Finally, we will end this session with a discussion of how to interpret and debug calibrated plate reader data.
- Part 1: Intro to Cell-Free systems
- Part 2: Making Cell-Free systems
- Part 3: PURE system
Week 5B - Cell-Free Systems
July 14:This webinar will cover Cell-free (CF) systems. These systems contain all of the cellular components necessary for transcription and/or translation, depending on the specific CF system being used. We will outline why this is an exciting area of research as well as how to use and make these systems.
Week 6A - Quantifying fluorescence and cell phenotypes with flow cytometry
July 21: This webinar begins with an introduction to flow cytometry, including how these instruments operate and the types of data that they produce. The second block of the webinar focuses on calibration of measurements for fluorescence and cell size, and on debugging such measurements. Finally, we will end this session with a discussion of how to interpret and debug calibrated flow cytometry data.
- Part 1: Transformation of E. coli: Electroporation & Chemical
- Part 2: Conjugation
- Part 3: Sanger Sequencing
Week 6B - Transformation and Sequencing
July 21: In this molecular biology webinar, we will cover some of the most important techniques for genetically modifying bacteria. We will cover standard electroporation and chemical transformation techniques for E. coli. We will also cover conjugation, a technique commonly used to genetically engineer organisms that are less well studied or organisms that cannot be easily electroporated or chemically transformed. Finally, we will cover the process of Sanger sequencing, look over a sequencing result, and demonstrate how to align sequencing results to a reference file.
- Part 1: Introduction
- Part 2: Experimental techniques
- Part 3: gRNA Design
Week 7 - CRISPR
July 28
- Part 1: Protein Biochemistry Fundamentals
- Part 2: Protein Purification Strategies
- Part 3: Evaluating Protein Purity
Week 8 - Protein Purification and Characterization
August 4: This Webinar will provide an overview of protein characterization that covers analytical techniques used to purify recombinant proteins and evaluate protein purity. The topics primarily focus on methods employed to characterize the physicochemical properties of targeted proteins. We will begin by discussing important aspects of protein structure taken into consideration when purifying a protein of interest. We will then provide guidelines for selecting appropriate purification methods and evaluating purity using qualitative and quantitative techniques.
iGEM Foundation
The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of synthetic biology, education and competition, and the development of an open community and collaboration. Visit us at igem.org
Contact
hq AT igem DOT org
45 Prospect Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
Due to COVID-19, iGEM staff are working remotely and cannot receive phone calls.
Please contact us by email.
Quicklinks
Main Page
News
Calendar
Events
Sponsor Offers
Collaborations
Sitemap