Invitation to synthetic biology workshop
You are invited to attend the 7th annual Build-a-Genome (BAG) workshop. BAG (https://qubeshub.org/community/groups/bag) is a course-based undergraduate research experience centered on synthetic biology. Synthetic biology allows students to create novel biological systems while learning the fundamentals of molecular biology, genetics, genomics, and bioengineering. This workshop will provide an introduction to the field as well as materials that can be easily incorporated directly into relevant courses or research projects.
Build-a-Genome was developed by Dr. Jef Boeke as part of the International and groundbreaking Synthetic Yeast Project. BAG specifically focuses on the design and creation of synthetic genomes, like yeast and bacteriophages, and this opportunity may be of interest to those already working with bacteriophages as part of the SEA-PHAGES program. Our network's goal is to make these techniques easy to incorporate into a diverse range of courses and the design and analysis of genomes can be ideally suited for online labs.
Having received NSF funding as an RCN-UBE (Research Coordination Network for Undergraduate Biology Education) network, we are delighted to be able to offer our seventh national workshop! The workshop will be held from June 1-4th at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore MD and travel, accommodation, and food expenses will be covered for participants. An application and workshop schedule are available at https://qubeshub.org/community/groups/bag/workshop/2025_seventh_national_workshop.
We are offering a diverse series of activities that will allow you to learn more about synthetic biology and Build-a-Genome as well opportunities for discussion and planning for how to incorporate activities into your courses or curricula. We welcome participation from individual faculty, faculty teams, and faculty/student teams. Please reach out with any questions to Lisa Scheifele at lzscheifele@loyola.edu. The application deadline is May 15th. We hope to see you there!