If you have a spare few minutes, sample the embedded video, which contains an animated view of the nature of human motivation, and the role that it plays in getting stuff done in organisations - from Dan Pink (http://www.danpink.com). Pink's views are especially relevant to Synthetic Biology, where bottom-up organisation, self-motivated efforts and open source technologies are so prominent, compared to the conventional biotechnology field. The animation is great - by RSAnimation (http://comment.rsablogs.org.uk/videos/) after a presentation at the Royal Society for Encouragement of Arts Manufactures and Commerce, London.

Google has release a package for development of Android phone and tablet apps using Arduino hardware. See a presentation by Massimo Banzi (Arduino) at the Android Open 2011 conference here. The combination of open source hardware platforms offers many opportunities for development of low-cost scientific instruments.

http://arduino.cc/blog/2011/10/12/android-open-2011-massimo-banzi-arduino-android-infinite-possibilities/

Applications are invited for the post of University Lecturer in Plant Sciences. A £250,000 grant from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation is available to support the candidate’s research programme. The appointee will play a central role in the Department's undergraduate teaching. However, the first priority will be to establish a productive research programme and initially the appointee will have only minimal teaching responsibility. There is particular interest in candidates withexpertise the following areas:

Microbiology of viruses, bacteria, fungi or algae, with links either to industrial biotechnology or plant pathology.
Mathematical and computational biology including epidemiology, bioinformatics and complex systems modelling at any level from the cell to the ecosystem.
Ecology and evolution including molecular ecology.
Synthetic biology.
Genome biology of plants, including crops.
Plant Taxonomy

Further particulars are available on http://www.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/jobs/PD09392.pdf

Tinkering With Life 

A decade’s worth of engineering-infused biology
In the late 1990s, a handful of physicists and engineers began to take a greater interest in biology. The Human Genome Project was spitting out more and more gene sequences, but no one knew how all these genes and proteins worked together to create a living, breathing organism. . . .
By Jef Akst (New Scientist)

A great video summary of Synthetic Biology - what it is, and where it might go - from James Hutson at Bridge8 in Australia. (and a brilliant example of how to make an informational video).

From selective breeding to genetic modification, our understanding of biology is now merging with the principles of engineering to bring us synthetic biology.

Written, animated and directed by James Hutson, Bridge8.

http://youtu.be/rD5uNAMbDaQ

New BioBricks for iridescent biosensors and colour from the Cambridge iGEM2011 team. 

The Cambridge iGEM2011 team worked with bionanophotonic systems - experimenting with the use of reflectin proteins from squid, that can assemble into photonic structures with striking iridescence. 

They produced BioBrick compatible forms of reflectin, expressed and purified the proteins, and produced thin films with bright and dynamic reflectance properties (see right). The films responded in fractions of a second to physical changes, such as humidity-induced film swelling. Reflectin colours can be rapidly altered by changes in phosphorylation state in squido. 

 Reflectins form a new class of genetic markers and biosensors with radically improved properties and huge potential.

The team also produced improved software for Gibson Assembly, with an interface to sequence libraries (including the iGEM Registry), graphical construction tool and automated PDF output of oligo design and experimental protocol.

For more information see: http://2011.igem.org/Team:Cambridge