The Adafruit Biohacking Calendar has been updated. I like to highlight the most notable. BioCurious has two of my three top picks. The Open qPCR talk should be fascinating especially since the Open PCR developer will also be there. Seattle’s HiveBio is going into full on Jurassic Park mode to explain how the movie had it all wrong. Finally, there is a serious looking four session class back at BioCurious next month.

Open qPCR Talk

Saturday, June 25th in Sunnyvale, CA (BioCurious) [$5]

Jost Perfetto will be discussing:

– Overview of hardware design
– Overview of qPCR
– Live demo of amplification curve + melt curve

Bioinformatics: How to Build Your Own Dinosaur!

Saturday, June 25th in Seattle, WA (HiveBio) [$20-$35]

This class will be an intro to bioinformatics wherein we explore the lineage of dino DNA using the tools of bioinformatics. Each student will create a dinosaur of their own using 3d modeling software and leave the class with a HiveBio t-shirt displaying the dinosaur they have created! No experience with programming or 3d modeling is required.

Students will learn why Jurassic Park is not scientifically accurate, and how one could create a dinosaur using bioinformatics, genetics and various existing biological techniques. This class will teach basic programming knowledge in python, basic data science visualization, and explore the genomic science behind how a dinosaur could be genetically engineered.

Metabolic Engineering Class

Saturday, July 9th in SunnyVale, CA (BioCurious) [$150-$200]

You asked for it and here is our summer intensive workshop to learn Metabolic Engineering and lab techniques.  This is a 4 session class meeting over 4 Saturday mornings.

Price is for the full 4 class session.  The class is $200 for non-members and $150 for members of BioCurious.

Session 1
Intro to bacteriology, aseptic technique
Media prep
Explain central dogma (DNA to RNA to proteins)
Describe the various types of DNA parts (promoters, orfs, etc)
Lay out experimental design: biochemistry of lycopene biosynthesis
build plasmid to combine crtE, crtB, crtI from Pantoea
How to search literature and databases
Explain PCR
How to use ApE program
How to design and order oligos

Session 2

Review experimental design and goals
Inoculate comp cell cultures
Build parts/vector by PCR
Describe origins of replication, plasmid compatibility, selection markers
Describe various cloning methods (restriction cloning, Gibson, InFusion, Golden Gate)
Gel purify parts
Clone inserts into vector (Gibson method)
Comp cell prep
Transform cells
Plate cells (explain how to streak)

Session 3
Review experimental design
Colony PCR
Describe types of sequencing (Sanger, various NGS methods)
Explain how align sequences
Run cPCR samples on gel
Discuss students’ ideas for projects
Submit for sequencing

Session 4
Prepare cultures for comp cells
Review experimental design
Build contigs
Perform sequence alignment
Mini-prep verified constructs
Discuss students’ projects, ethics
Transform to combine constructs