Biobuilder: Fun with Synthetic Biology

Ever wanted to delve into synthetic biology—or help your kids and their teachers to do so? Now you can explore this merging of biology and engineering techniques through BioBuilder.org, a free website offering animations and activities for anyone who wants to teach or learn about synthetic biology.

Started in 2007, BioBuilder was created under the direction of Natalie Kuldell, instructor in the MIT Department of Biological Engineering, in response to numerous requests for synthetic biology learning materials from policy makers, environmental groups, and others. The labs take students through the process of making and modeling useful living systems.

BioBuilder is populated with short, animated narratives, mostly showing the interaction between a lab scientist, Systems Sally, and an excited young learner, Device Dude. The labs, with brainstorming sessions at the whiteboard and in the laboratory, are aimed at the advanced high school/early college level.

Check Out These Examples

Eau that Smell is a laboratory exercise that compares two alternative genetic designs. Both programs should make the cells smell like ripe bananas as the cells grow, and the lab requires that the students generate a bacterial population growth curve to compare the output of the competing banana-smell designs.

The iTune device lab examines the role of parts, such as promoters and ribosome binding sites, in predicting the output of a genetic device. The students measure b-galactosidase enzymatic activity as the device's output, thereby looking through the lens of molecular genetics to predict and then evaluate a device's behavior.

Find out what's emerging from MIT's bioengineering labs.