Cambridge Synthetic and Engineering Biology Meetup cover photo

Mon, Oct 2, 2023, 6:00 PM BSTCafe Synthetique
Panton Arms, Cambridge
Any Problems Signing Up - please email vr314@cam.ac.uk to sign up

Café Synthetique is the monthly meetup for the Cambridge synthetic and engineering biology community with informal talks, discussion and pub snacks. Kindly sponsored by Cambridge Consultants.

We meet monthly at the Panton Arms to share the latest developments in engineering biology and related approaches and techniques. Speakers range from students and group leaders to industry professionals and entrepreneurs. We are always open to speaker suggestions so if you would like to nominate yourself or another person, please get in touch via coordinator@engbio.cam.ac.uk.

### Monday 2 October- Dr Diana Fusco, Assitant Professor, Dept of Physics

### Crispr-trapping bacteriophages to shine the light on phage-bacteria interactions at single-cell resolution.

Despite the long history and wide-spread use of bacteriophage-derived molecular biology tools in molecular biology and microbiology, the level and importance of stochasticityin the infection timeline is poorly understood, as most standard methods rely on bulk, population average measurements. By combining the Crispr approach to genetically edit T7 phages and introduce fluorescent markers and mother-machine microfluidic devises, we are finally visualizing the different events in the phage infection timeline and uncovering new mysteries in phage biology.
During the talk, I'll explain the details of how we use Crispr to edit the phage genome, the current challenges with the technique, and also some unexpected new findings that we would have never guessed before.

Bio:
Diana's interest in biology started as a physics undergrad studying topological properties of the transcriptional network in budding yeast. After that, she was hooked and moved to soft matter and protein self-assembly for her PhD, under the supervision of Dr. Charbonneau at Duke. Unsatisfied with addressing questions exclusively on the computational side, she embarked onto a hybrid postdoc in Dr. Hallatschek lab at UC Berkeley, where she studied the evolutionary consequences of spatial range expansion combining microbiology and mathematical modeling. She is currently an assistant professor in biological physics at the Cavendish lab, where she pursues fundamental questions in microbial life and evolution using a combination of physical modelling, synthetic biology and fluorescence microscopy.
It would be great to see the community coming together again with free aromi food available! Drinks available to purchase at the bar. We look forward to seeing you at the Panton Arms, Cambridge.

Places are limited to 30. Please rsvp sign up here. Any Problems Signing Up - please email vr314@cam.ac.uk to sign up
40 attendees+35
Wed, Oct 11, 2023, 10:00 AM BSTCambridge Opentrons Meet n Greet
Hopkins Building, Cambridge
The Opentrons Team will be visiting Cambridge on Wed 11 Oct 2023 and is looking for an opportunity to get to know the OT and automation users within the University of Cambridge!

The Engineering Biology IRC has kindly agreed to organise a Cambridge Opentrons User Group Meet-and-Greet event, which will be held at Stephenson Seminar Room, Dept. of Biochemistry, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QW (find us https://www.bioc.cam.ac.uk/about-us/how-to-find-us) on Wed 11 Oct at 10:00-11:30 BST.

We welcome you to come along and showcase what/how you currently use your OT-2s and automation workflows, learn more about the Opentrons Flex (including demos of some new Flex components: 96-channel pipette, gripper, and onboard tablet display), and get a chance to network with other OT users within the university.

Schedule of events:
09:45 Registration and Welcome Teas/Coffees
10:00 Opentrons Team Introduction and Opentrons Flex Demo
10:30 Cambridge OT Users Flash Talks/Showcase (5min per speaker, any format of choice)
11:00 Networking

Please rsvp at MeetUp to attend this event. Any problems signing up please email vr314@cam.ac.uk
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch with Vicky or Yan-Kay ykh26@cam.ac.uk
6 attendees+1
Mon, Oct 16, 2023, 4:00 PM BSTEngBio ECRs Meet, Greet and Talk
Postdoc Centre, Cambridge
NOTE Time Change to 4pm-5pm, Postdoc Centre, 16 Mill Lane Basement

Monthly meeting of the University of Cambridge EngBio Postdoc & Postgrad Groups. Open to postdocs, students and research staff from across the University and affiliated institutes (MRC-LMB, Babraham Institute, Wellcome Sanger Institute).

Join our monthly meets to meet fellow Early Career Researchers from across the University interested in biology, engineering, design, computer science, bioethics and more. This is a great opportunity to meet postdocs from other schools and departments, share knowledge and ideas, establish connections and collaborations, and find out more about EngBio Postdocs activities such as funding calls and support.

Each session will host 1-2 lightening talks from ECRs covering research, tools & technologies, and fields & applications of synthetic and engineering biology. This will be followed by informal discussion (and free food and drink!).

Please RSVP as below.. Any problems with RSVP, please email vr314@cam.ac.uk

Monday 16 October, 4pm -5pm at Postdoc Centre, Basement, 16 Mill Lane

### Short Talk by Guillermo Serrano Najera, Dept. of Genetics

### Title: Inferring individual cell behaviours from the tissue movements.

Abstract: During my PhD I worked with very large image time-lapse dataset of living embryos. We developed techniques to analyse these data to study cell behaviours including individual cell segmentation and tracking. However, we also developed computational techniques far easier and faster to use that give information on cell behaviours analysing the tissue flows even when individual cells cannot be detected either because they are not labelled, or because the quality of the image is poor.

Bio: Dr Guillermo Serrano Nájera is interested in how cells coordinate their behaviours to generate tissues and organs during animal embryonic development. He completed his PhD at the University of Dundee, where he combined computational analysis, microscopy, and developmental biology to study early chick embryos. He described how to manipulate chick embryos to reproduce tissue movement typical of other species (frogs, fish, and chameleons). These results show the plasticity of embryonic development and illuminate how different animal morphologies can evolve. He continues exploring embryonic development and evolution using novel stem cells based in vitro systems that mimic essential aspects of early development such as germ-layer differentiation and morphogenesis.

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There is an attendee limit of 20 people. Please register/rsvp here, and we will send a confirmation. A waitlist will be made available once spaces are filled.

For more information about EngBio Postdocs and to register see: https://www.engbio.cam.ac.uk/postdocs or contact coordinator@engbio.cam.ac.uk
6 attendees+1
Mon, Nov 6, 2023, 6:00 PM GMTCafe Synthetique
Panton Arms, Cambridge
Any Problems Signing Up - please email vr314@cam.ac.uk to sign up

Café Synthetique is the monthly meetup for the Cambridge synthetic and engineering biology community with informal talks, discussion and pub snacks. Kindly sponsored by Cambridge Consultants.

We meet monthly at the Panton Arms to share the latest developments in engineering biology and related approaches and techniques. Speakers range from students and group leaders to industry professionals and entrepreneurs. We are always open to speaker suggestions so if you would like to nominate yourself or another person, please get in touch via coordinator@engbio.cam.ac.uk.

### Monday 6 November. Daniela Lobo, Senior Scientist, Cambridge Display Technology Ltd.

It would be great to see the community coming together again with free aromi food available! Drinks available to purchase at the bar. We look forward to seeing you at the Panton Arms, Cambridge.

Places are limited to 30. Please rsvp sign up here. Any Problems Signing Up - please email vr314@cam.ac.uk to sign up
3 attendees

Cambridge Synthetic and Engineering Biology Meetup