Assignment 1 (Due during Ses #7)
Below is a hypothetical abstract. In two double-spaced pages please provide a possible title together with a discussion of the experiments that may have been performed in order to justify the abstract. Pay particular attention to experimental design, controls, strains, and measurement techniques.
Abstract
The genetic networks underlying cellular decision-making must be robust against the stochastic effects inherent in chemical reactions. These stochastic effects lead to variations in biochemical parameters because of number fluctuations in enzymes such as RNA polymerase and the ribosome. Even an isogenic population will therefore have variation in the number of proteins expressed from a given promoter. It has been proposed that negative autoregulation may provide stability in gene expression by decreasing the sensitivity of the system to fluctuations in the underlying biochemical parameters. Here we design and construct simple genetic networks in E. coli using a transcriptional repressor that allow us to confirm that negative feedback decreases the variation in protein levels, thus making gene expression more robust.
Assignment 2 (Due during Ses #12)
Below is a link to an abstract of a paper. In two double-spaced pages, please provide a possible title together with a discussion of the experiments and computational experiments that may have been performed in order to justify the abstract. Pay particular attention to experimental design, controls, strains, and measurement techniques.
Strickler, J., S. Cookson, M. R. Bennett, W. H. Mather, L. S. Tsimring, and J. Hasty. "A fast, robust and tunable synthetic gene oscillator." Nature 456 (2008): 516-20.