Postgraduate Course: Tools for Synthetic Biology (PGBI11092)

Course Outline
School	School of Biological Sciences	College	College of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	10	ECTS Credits	5
Summary	Tools for Synthetic Biology will teach the new tools and techniques being developed and employed in the rapidly expanding field of synthetic biology. The course will seek to teach students the theory behind the methods; encouraging understanding, which will allow new uses and application in alternative areas to become apparent.
Course description	1. Introduction, engineering perspectives, grand challenges. Alistair Elfick (School of Engineering) 2. Engineering genetic logic and analog circuits. Giovanni Stracquadanio (School of Biological Sciences) 3. DNA synthesis and assembly methods. Chris French (School of Biological Sciences) 4. CRISPR-Cas systems. Elise Cachat (School of Biological Sciences) 5. Expanding the genetic code. Sebastian Greiss (Edinburgh Medical School) 6. Protein engineering and de novo design. Chris Wood (School of Biological Sciences) 7. Cell-free biology. Nadanai Laohakunakorn (School of Biological Sciences) 8. RNA switches. Sander Granneman (School of Biological Sciences) 9. Next generation sequencing. Sander Granneman (School of Biological Sciences) 10. Design Project pitches and round table discussions. Elise Cachat (School of Biological Sciences) 11. Visit of the Edinburgh Genome Foundry. Rennos Fragkoudis (School of Biological Sciences) + Design Project: drop-in session. Elise Cachat (School of Biological Sciences)

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to: Analytical skills, ability to assess the pros and cons of new methods Capacity to recognise the opportunities presented by new biological discoveries Ability to look at pressing problems from the perspective that these may have an innovative bio-based solution