BIOSS’s Practical Course in Signalling and Synthetic Biology
Interested, engaged and creative: Those were some of the key qualities of participants of BIOSS’s practical course in Signalling and Synthetic Biology, where students gained theoretical knowledge and practical skills in synthetic biology.
The participants of BIOSS's practical course in Signalling and Synthetic Biology came from all over the globe. Fourteen young scientists from universities in Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Latvia and Australia came to the University of Freiburg for a ten-day course in the theory and practice of synthetic biology. The organisers, Prof. Dr. Michael Reth and Prof. Dr. Wilfried Weber, were very pleased with the classes, lectures and discussions. Wilfried Weber designed the exciting programme together with PD. Dr. Gerald Radziwill, Prof. Stefan Rensing, Jun. Prof. Winfried Römer and Dr. Matias Zurbriggen.
From theory to practice
The goal of the course, which was designed for participants with previous knowledge in the field, was to provide further knowledge of the concepts and approaches of the theory of synthetic biology through class work. This was accompanied by practical work in the laboratory, where students applied the latest and most important methods, putting theory into practice on human and animal cells. The importance of cells as the basis for further applications was underlined in the daily lectures held by renowned international experts, who were invited to discuss different perspectives on various approaches, perfectly supplementing what students had learned about theory and practice. As a result, participants gained many new insights and valuable experience with the latest technology, which they can now take home to their own labs. They also got to know Freiburg better in evening activities.
Lectures by international experts
Participants were especially impressed by lectures by Assistant Professor Jeff Tabor from the Department of Bioengineering at Rice University Houston, Texas, USA, and Martin Fussenegger, Professor at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zürich, Switzerland. Jeff Tabor discussed how different colours of light can be used to control cells, while Martin Fussenegger projected a convincing overview of what we can expect on the market in the area of biomedicine in the next ten to fifteen years thanks to the impact of synthetic biology.
Interdisciplinary work
Each lecture was followed by a lively discussion, and participants contributed engaging insight. The young scientists also rose to the final challenge at the end of the course with great determination and creativity. Their assignment was to pair up in teams and install communication networks in cells. By coincidence, engineers paired up with biologists, and each biologist-engineer team worked to solve problems together, complementing each other perfectly with their different fields of expertise and approaches to solutions. The participants and Wilfried Weber and his team were extremely pleased with the results and the wonderful atmosphere of the course.
