Comment
Now, the scientific standpoint concerning your ideas, Yu.
1st idea) Analyzing the heartbeat, blood pressure and temperature is a pretty good starting point. Those are, by the way, non-invasive standard techniques used in every hospital today (as you know). So the idea to measure those is not far fetched. Those indicators can indeed tell you, if there is something really wrong with your cat. But they are insufficient for the diagnosis of a certain disease or even a certain mood. If the cat is excitet blood pressure, heartbeat and temperature will go up, probably. The same could happen if the cat gets sick.
So what came to my mind was whether you should think about adding some more "input" parameters. I listed some of those in the last comment I made below (hormones, gene expression detecteble from RNA in human blood).
I like the idea about a screen, that will show the result of the analyses and system that would then treat the cat with a kind of special drug. You should probably think about the way, this treatment could happen. Is there i.e. a machine inside the cat that would apply those drugs? Are there cells that would produce the drugs? If so, how would they get the message, that they sould produce a drug? (the latter two thinks are typical synthetic biology problems and thus very interesting, indeed).
2nd idea) I like this idea very much! Again, you should thinks about the parameters you want to use in order to detect the mood of a person. As I said, hormones could be a very good indicator. Bernd presented a very nice animation about facial pattern recognition to us in Heidelberg once. If you didn't see it before, you should probably have a look at it here (I hope that is the right one...).
What I really love about this idea is the plant part. Plants making any kind of scent in order to smoothen your mood is really cool and would for sure need synthetic biology for engineering those plants. So the direction is really good in my opinion.
The interface between the human feelings and the plant is of course important in your project. Think about possible ways, that could be done. What I can tell you already is, that people are working hard in order to conntect cells (i.e. neurons, that means nerve cells) with computers. It has been shown in many studies that you can use elecrtricity in order to influence cells. Another good input is light, for example. Recent studies show, that light can be used in order switch on or off different (previously engineered) systems in a cell. So what comes to my mind is: What about putting the plants under a certain light source. In case the person is agressive, red light is turned on and the plant will start to produce a sweet smell or something. In case a person is tired, the light will turn green and the plant produces a smell that will make the person wake up and so on. So light whould be used to switch between the ordors produced. In the synthetic biology reader I send to sebastian (I don't know whether you got that one) therer is a nice article where light was used in order to controll the movement of a simple worm-like organism. Just as a rough suggestion.
The light sourece could be controlled by a computer that estimates the mood of the person from the different parameters. So controlling behaviour of organisms using light should be possible.
Good luck for your work! I really liked those ideas pretty much!!
--Dominik Niopek 13:42, 19 May 2010 (UTC)
General Information and some specific Information about future vision of Personalized Medicine
Some general hopefully interesting info for some of you. The personalized medicine idea (bacteria in gut) and some other ideas pointet me to a documentation I once saw in the ZDF about a future vision of our life and society. This documentary series called "2057- Unser Leben in der Zukunft" ran some time ago. Althogh one could controversely discuss the scientific content in those documentations, I find they are interesting and they might be inspiring. The first episode is about future healthcare and personalized medicine. Although some of the ideas sound strange at first hand, people are already working on many of those (i.e. the organ inject printer [1] You can find the ZDF documentary series here: Youtube: 2057- Unser Leben in der Zukunft
b) The movie GATACA might also be interesting Wikipedia: GATACA
Furthermore, I already told you about sequencing from simple blood samples. Sequencing is the technology used to read the genetic code (AGCTTACCTTACC...). Therefor physical DNA (or RNA, I come to that later) is needed. DNA can simply be taken out from cells, i.e. cells of your skin. You can find some Information about DNA Sequencing on Wikipedia.
So why is that interesting?
1) Well, i.e. for diagnosis of genetic diseases. Recent studies showed, that DNA sequencing from the blood of pregnant women can be used to determine whether the fetus (baby) has the predisposition for a certain genetic disease. Keep in mind, that the DNA is sort of the genetic building plan of evey cell. So you can get information about this building plan and whether it has some errors here and there. Find some information about DNA Sequencing from blood here.
2) Sequencing not the DNA, but the RNA is also very interesting, as the amount of RNA present in a cell gives you information about the gene expression (= the genes turned on and those turned of at a certain timepoint). RNA is the molecule that is used to translate the messages coded on the DNA in a from, that the inner cell machinary can read this massage and make the proteins. Proteins are the effector molecules and can be seen as the little machines, controlling the behaviour of a cell (i.e. energy production, movement, cell division- nearly everything). Strongly simplified, one can say, that one Gene codes for a certain RNA and that RNA codes for a certain protein.
DNA --> RNA --> Protein
The more RNAs of the same type are present in a cell, the more proteins of the same type are made. So, if I do RNA sequencing, I get the information about the genes that are turned on or off, and I can even tell in which ratio that happenes. Biologists are talking about gene overexpression (= genes turned on at a higher level than normal) and underexpression (= genes turned on at a lower level than normal). Unnormal gene expression is a typical indicator for a disregulation in a cell and can therefor be indicator for a disease. In many diseases the gene expression (and therefor the gene regulation) is unnormal.
Coming back to the point: Sequencing RNA from human blood is possible since some years. In the future, as automated sequencing gets better and cheaper, that could give us the oppotunity to have a sort of online-look onto our gene expression. We would simply take blood samples and put them into a full-automatic sequencer.
Today, RNA analysis from blood samples is used i.e. for the HIV-diagnosis and is also taken into account for cancer diagnosis. In general, if the RNA sequencing from blood will get better and better, we will probably be able to look at our gene expression profile online!
Despite those technologies, another important marker in the blood, especially for the detection of the mood and feelings of the persons are hormones. Hormones have been shown to have a strong influence on many body functions, including blood pressure and heartbeat. Furthermore they have a strong influence on the way we feel and act. Lovers have a certain hormone-cocktail in their blood, people being excited or agressive have a high adrenaline level in their blood. In animal studies it was shown, that by injecting a certain hormone into animals normally not living in groups, they would be nice and friendly living with the group of their kind afterwards (I will look up which animal that was and add that later).
I hope their has been at least some interesting information in this much too long paragraph :)
--Dominik Niopek 13:16, 19 May 2010 (UTC)
My ideas about this project
I have some more ideas about this project. Please make comment and let me know if they are good！ If you know some scientific Theories which can support my idea,Please tell me! I really appreciate for that!
First one I call it Cat reader. It has two parts. Part I you can put it in your car's body. It will analyze the datas of your cat,heart beat, blood pressure锛?temperature ect. By these, it can tell the mood of your cat and its health situation.
The result will be showed in part II, which is a pet collar with a screen. Through this the owner can see how is the cat doing. Hungry, thirsty, sick,angry or happy.Then he can take care of it better.
Another function of the part I is it can give some medicine to the cat. For example, if the cat hurt itself or it is ill, and part I detects that. Besides show on the screen,it will also give some medicine as first add.
Another idea is a indoor system,which is similar to the first one.
But it is make up with a flower and an analyze machine.
The analyze machine is like the Part I in Cat reader, But it is installed in human body.
It can tell your mood,then send signal to a receiver which is connected to the plant.
Then the flower will give off different scent to sooth your mood.
Also you can set the flower manually according to your need.
For example you'd like to keep awake or sleep well.
--Yu Xiaorui 16:45, 18 May 2010 (UTC)
DIYbio and Personalized Medicine
Andrew Hessel, one of the cofounders of the company Pink Army Cooperative, an open source project for the development of new, personalized breast cancer treatments . There is a nice video on youtube, where Andrew Hessel talks about the future of synthetic biology and also about the Pink Army: Andrew Hessel on Youtube.
--Dominik Niopek 13:07, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
Bacteria for personalized Medicine and other interesting iGEM ideas
Some iGEM-Teams from 2008 and 2009 worked on using bacteria for personalized medicine. The idea to put them into the human gut and let them react to either internal or external stimuli has led to some interesting wet-lab projects.
Probably most famous in the iGEM-context is the work from Taipei 2008 (have also a look on wiki design an figures): Taipei Wiki 2008
Caltech 2008 took a similar approach: Caltech Wiki 2008
Also interesting: the bacto-joghurt idea by MIT 2008: MIT Wiki 2008
You sould also have a brief look on those projects here, especially on the kind of idea they focus on. All of them are really special in their way:
Edinburgh 2009 on the detection of land mines: Edinburgh Wiki 2009
Calgary 2009 and their human practices project on a Second Life Synhetic Biology world: Calgary Wiki 2009
Tokyo Tech 2009 on terraforming Mars (very cool idea): Tokyo Tech Wiki 2009
Virginia 2009 on water cleaning: Virgina Wiki 2009
Tokyo Tech 2008 on an E. coli based touch display: Tokyo Tech Wiki 2008
Furthermore, you should have a look at some team presentations. Besides the finalists presentations from 2008 and 2009 that are interesting anyways, the following ones have been really cool and fun: Tokyo Tech 2009, Calgary 2009
Have fun! I'm looking forward to see you soon in Heidelberg! More information is about to come in this blog, soon.
--Dominik Niopek 12:49, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
“Synthetic Biology” Sparks Nano-Terror Scenario
Article about misuses, expected and unexpected consequences of Syn Bio. Includes some links to other resources about safety issues.
--Bernd 12:31, 14 May 2010 (UTC)
Scienceblogs on Synbio
Interesting read about Synbio. There is an article featuring Tuur van Balen's work
--Bernd 14:50, 12 May 2010 (UTC)
New Scientist CultureLab
Art meets science: What do you think of it all?
Over the next few days we'll be publishing a series of articles looking at art-science collaborations, and to kick things off we've set up a quick survey. (New Scientist)
Art meets science: A curator who wants to open windows
Art meets science: Aesthetics, politics and metaphysics
Art meets science: Physicist in a cultural landscape
Art meets science: Speaking a lingua digica
Art meets science: Catch up with the state of the art
--Bernd 12:55, 12 May 2010 (UTC)
Cultural Probes
If you are interested in Design as a research tool, you should read this. Cultural Probes
--Bernd 16:29, 11 May 2010 (UTC)
Neighborhood Science
The Medialab Prado in Madrid is calling for collaborators for their Interactivos?'10, the topic is 'Neighborhood Science'. http://medialab-prado.es/article/interactivos10_ciencia_de_barrio_convocatoria_de_colaboradores
--sebastian 13:45, 11 May 2010 (UTC)
NextNature.net
Please have a look at http://www.nextnature.net/. There are a couple Synbio related articles like FluDOC – Glowing Bacteria show if you have Influenza
--Bernd 12:42, 9 May 2010 (UTC)
FYI: Literaturliste Grafik und Gestaltung
http://web.uni-weimar.de/medien/wiki/GMU:Die_neue_U-Bahn#Literatur
--sebastian 13:11, 6 May 2010 (UTC)
Michiko Nitta: Extreme Green Guerrillias
I think we have mentioned the project already, but give it a look. It is illustrating the implications of extreme sustainable lifestyle, utilising genetic modifications and more.
http://www.myportfolio.me.uk/EGGs.htm
--sebastian 10:52, 6 May 2010 (UTC)
Bio-Fiction Film Festival
There is a synbio film festival in Vienna. The deadline ( 15. July) is perfect because it's one week after our final presentation. Should be interesting for some of you.
Have a look.
--Bernd 12:01, 5 May 2010 (UTC)
PERFECT BODY (living sex machine)
I am really sorry that I couldnt be there on thursday for the presentation! So now my work in progress in a short movie - with:
.introduction
.perfect body kit
.magazine
.crossword
.drugstore-tv-spot
<videoflash type="vimeo">11366691|400|300</videoflash>
--Mila 22:25, 30 April 2010 (UTC)
Design will save the world
Inhabitat.com is an online plattform for ecological und biological projects in architecture, design, technology and art. Inventions from all over the world are presented here!
It is not directly something about synthetic biology, but you can still find a lot of nice and inspiring stuff for your work.
--Wawa 15:43, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
(re)Performing the Posthuman
http://reperformingtheposthuman.yolasite.com/
21/22 may 2010 The programme will include keynotes by Rosemary Klich, Jennifer Parker- Starbuck and Stelarc, paper presentations, performances, video showings, a small exhibition space and a gallery in Second Life.
About: "...models of subjectivity that call into question the humanist concept of the body as a biological entity, and as the "container" of the human subject"... "drawing attention to inconsistencies between the theory's wider cultural implications and socio-political realities, others insisting on the possibility of a biological definition of humanness"... "It is therefore now an apposite moment to revisit the idea of the posthuman, and posthumanist approaches to performance art and theatre. The aim of (re)Performing the Posthuman is to create an opportunity to do precisely this and to discuss in what form (if any) non-humanist concepts of the body and subjectivity may still be useful as a conceptual and analytical framework in performance arts."
--Mila 13:21, 25 April 2010 (UTC)
23andme special offer
Get your genetic health and ancestry checked with 23anme. Now for only 99$. Or maybe not.
--Bernd 20:23, 23 April 2010 (UTC)
Mmh, not anymore. Price is back to 499$.
--sebastian 08:27, 24 April 2010 (UTC)
Synbio on the go
--JanD 15:37, 21 April 2010 (UTC)
Craig Venter on DNA and the sea
<videoflash type=youtube>E5X6Qy772YU|437|236</videoflash>
Craig Venter takes a break from his epic round-the-world expedition to talk about
the millions of genes his team has discovered so far in its quest to map the ocean’s
biodiversity.
Craig venter surveys the genetic biodiversity. In history surveying often meant taking possession.
--Bernd 17:35, 20 April 2010 (UTC)
Sk-Interfaces_Ausstellung
http://www.casino-luxembourg.lu/html_en/expositions/expoencours_skinterfaces.htm
Die Ausstellung ist leider schon vorbei, dabei waren aber die Größen der Branche: Art Orienté objet, Maurice Benayoun, Zane Berzina, Critical Art Ensemble, Wim Delvoye, Olivier Goulet, Eduardo Kac, Antal Lakner, Yann Marussich, Kira O’Reilly, Zbigniew Oksiuta, ORLAN, Philippe Rahm, Julia Reodica, Stelarc, Jun Takita, The Office of Experiments, The Tissue Culture and Art Project, Sissel Tolaas, Paul Vanouse.
Es gibt ein Minivideo auf der Seite.. --Mila 22:16, 18 April 2010 (UTC)
es gibt auch ein schönes, interaktives (was den umschlag betrifft) buch dazu!
- SK-Interfaces ISBN 1846311497
vielleicht was für die bibliothek? (ist in der Unibibliothek vorhanden --max 20:27, 19 April 2010 (UTC))
--Ck schroeder 19:04, 19 April 2010 (UTC)
Heterogeneous Home
http://www.benhooker.com/heterogeneoushome/
get inspired
by sebastian 20:22, 14 April 2010 (UTC)
Try this at home: Extracting Human DNA
by sebastian 18:12, 13 April 2010 (UTC)
Research/Link: Biopunk Manifesto
The Biopunk Manifesto by Annalee Newitz [2]
Kac goes Hopfengärtner
Apparently bioart allstar E.Kac features in his recent work methods employed by B.Hopfengärtner a couple of years ago ;)
Eduardo Kac, Lagoglyphs: Lagoogleglyph I (2009)
Google Earth work composed of Lagoglyph installed on the roof of Oi Futuro, Rio de Janeiro, approx. 26 x 56 ft; and custom-ordered WorldView2 satellite photograph.
Kac: http://www.ekac.org/oi_kac.show_overview.html
Hopfengärtner: http://hello.w0r1d.net/
Sidenote (Learning from the professionals): Always have female spectators in photographic representation of your artwork.
22.01.10 Preparation Workshop Heidelberg
iGEM 2009 Team Wash U: Synthetically Regulated Antenna Energy Production in Bioreactors
This group tries to grow a Alphaproteobacteria wich can be used for Energy Production with less energy wasted
iGEM 2009 Team Cambridge: E.chromi feat. Daisy Ginsberg + John King
<videoflash type="vimeo">7466044|400|300</videoflash>
DIYbio
Basierend auf das ArtScienceBangalore/Project des iGEM Wettbewerbs wurde eine kleine Forschung über "do-it-your-self" möglichkeiten im eigenen Atelier ein kleines Labor einzurichten mit dem man Biologie "hacken" kann. Bei der suche nach Informationen bin ich auf folgende Internetseiten gestoßen die sich damit befassen:
Eine Seite ist die Amateur-Bio-Hacker Seite DIYbio [3]
In der Stanford School of Medicine - Undersanding Genetics findet man Videos zu "Do-It-Yourself Strawberry DNA" [4]
Auf der nächsten Seite findet man interessante Artikel mit denen sich das ArtScienceBangalore Project befasst hat zu den Themen:
Art and Politics,Art,Science,Ethics,Design & Technology,Synthetic Biology,General Design Links usw. [5]
Wenn Salmonellen Leuchten!! Die OSAKA Gruppe präsentiert ihre Arbeiten.[6]
Synthetic Biology Software Suite (SynBioSS)
The Synthetic Biology Software Suite (SynBioSS) is a software suite for the generation, storing, retrieval and quantitative simulation of synthetic biological networks. The SynBioSS DS is a set of multiscale algorithms for modeling and simulating reaction networks, such as gene regulatory networks.
Spectacles - A visual editing framework
from the 2009 iGEM UC Berkeley Software Team Wiki
for the design of composite biological devices and the assignment of physical samples to functional concepts.