A synthetic multicellular system for programmed pattern formation

Excellent Nature article (subscribers only) on programmed cellular differentiation; we have a proposal currently being refereed which describes something similar, so it's reassuring that others are thinking along the same lines.

Followup: Reith lecture

A transcript and audio recording of the Reith lecture on nanotechnology is now available (link above).

Micro- and bio-fluidics

Useful website on micro- and bio-fluidics, including links to papers. One is of particular interest to me: Darnton, N., Turner, L., Breuer, K.S. & Berg, H.C. "Moving fluid with bacterial carpets". Biophysical Journal. 86. pp. 1863-1870. 2004.

Theoretical and Experimental DNA Computation: update

I've just been told by Springer that the camera-ready copy for my forthcoming book Theoretical and Experimental DNA Computation (see book website above) is being sent to the printer, and the finished product should be available to buy in mid-June.

BBC Reith Lecture on nanotechnology

The BBC Reith Lecture (on Nanotechnology) will be on Radio 4 this evening at 2000 BST. Details from the link above - you should be able to listen to it live here.

Dynamic microcompartmentation in synthetic cells

PNAS (subscriber only) article: "This work represents a bottom-up approach to understanding cell biology, in contrast to the top-down approach often adopted in biochemistry and perhaps best exemplified by efforts to generate the "minimal cell" through gene disruption in already simple organisms".

EPSRC Novel Computation panel

If you're waiting to hear the result of an application to the third round of EPSRC Novel Computation funding, you may like to know that the panel will be held at the end of July.

Image manipulation in biology

Interesting discussion in Nature concerning the increasing use of packages such as Photoshop in presenting biological research (subscribers only).

Intel money claimed

A British man has claimed the $10,000 prize offered by Intel (see previous post) - BBC news story.

Nanotubes vs. silicon

News article on the drive to build nano-scale transistors with carbon nanotubes.

Self-assembled DNA fractals

News article on Erik Winfree's work on designing DNA strands to self-assemble into a Sierpinski triangle. The original article was published in PLOS Biology, along with a commentary article (open access).

Intel offering $10,000 reward

Intel are offering $10,000 for a mint-condition copy of the April 19 1965 issue of Electronics magazine containing the article that gave rise to "Moore's Law". See the relevant eBay page for details.

The Grand Challenge in Non-Classical Computation

I've accepted an invitation to sit on a panel at the Grand Challenge in Non-Classical Computation International Workshop, to be held in York, UK on April 18-19. The organisers seem to have assembled a "who's who" of researchers in the field of unconventional computing, and I'm very much looking forward to it -- I'll post a detailed personal account soon afterwards.

Montpellier meeting

On Friday I returned from giving a talk at the Annual Workshop on Modelling of Complex Biological Systems in the Context of Genomics in Montpellier. Personal highlights (with links to relevant material) were:

Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz; Lindenmayer vs. D'Arcy Thompson; A Comparison of Two Approaches for Modelling Plant Development and Structure. See the Algorithmic Botany page.

Andreas Wagner; Evolution and Evolvability of Gene Networks. See Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems

Jorg Stelling; Robustness and Cellular Design Principles. See this Cell article.

Gene Regulatory Networks

The most recent issue of PNAS is a special on Gene Regulatory Networks (access restricted to subscribers).