High-throughput DNA Assembly and Cloning
High-throughput DNA Assembly and Cloning
Boston - January 2021
First Global Biofoundries Alliance (GBA) Webinar of 2021
Please join us for the first Global Biofoundries Alliance (GBA) webinar of 2021, featuring Boston University Associate Professor Douglas Densmore on January 27, 2021.
​
Boston - January 2021
Rita Chen demonstrates the power of open-source robotics in the fight against COVID-19
Our very own Rita Chen talks about her initial efforts in prototyping the initial protocol for our high-throughput COVID testing facility with Opentrons robotics.
​
Check it out here!
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Boston - December, 2020
Boston University Year in Review for 2020
Check out to see how DAMP Lab and Precision Diagnostic Center (PCD) assisted Boston University (BU) in launching COVID Testing Lab.
​
CHAPTER 9: https://www.bu.edu/2020-year-in-review/chapter-09/
CHAPTER 15: https://www.bu.edu/2020-year-in-review/chapter-15/
Boston - November 2020
Meet the lead PI of the DAMP lab in the fight with COVID-19
Find out more about BU's secret to fight against COVID...
"It all comes down to the robots." Douglas Densmore.
​
Check out Densmore's interview with BU_ECE Department about our efforts in automating a COVID-19 testing facility. We have reached 300,000+ and counting!
​
https://www.bu.edu/eng/2020/11/04/bus-secret-weapon-against-covid-19/
Boston - August, 2020
DAMP Lab's member Rita Chen gave a talk at IWBDA 2020 (Virtual)
Talk: Laboratory Protocol Automation: A Modular DNA Assembly and Bacterial Transformation Case Study
​
The work was conducted by Rita Chen, Nicholas Emery, and Marilene Pavan, and led by DAMP's project manager Samuel M.D. Oliveira.
​
Check out the manuscript of the work published in the workshop's Proceedings, and click to have access to a folder containing the videos of the presentations
Boston - January 2020
The DAMP lab becomes a provisional member of the IGSC
The International Gene Synthesis Consortium (IGSC) is a network of the world’s leading Biofoundries launched to drive forward synthetic biology research and industry.
The DAMP lab has become a provisional member of the IGSC. DAMP Lab’s goal with IGSC is to implement the best tools and practices for biosecurity into its DNA Foundry, and share knowledge and protocols to help increase biosecurity in designing and screening synthetic gene orders. More can be found at IGSC website https://genesynthesisconsortium.org/.
Welcome Rita Chen to DAMP lab at BU
Boston - July 2019
Rita Chen, a former BME student of BU, joined the Design, Automation, Manufactory, and Prototype (DAMP) Laboratory of Boston University as the new (and first) head experimental lab tech of the team, after graduating in June 2019. Rita had worked at the DAMP lab as an UROP intern and researcher assistant before since summer of 2018, during her bachelor studies, performing experimental and computational work for DAMP’s projects and services. She combines experimental techniques in cell and molecular biology (wet lab experience) and expertise in programming languages, lab protocol automation.
​
The knowledge she obtained during her work at the DAMP lab contributed to the understanding of how one can automate wet-lab protocols using liquid handler devices and programming languages, i.e. creating software tools that coordinate such devices for DNA molecular cloning, cell transformation, and cell colony picking. Now, back to DAMP in a leading position, Rita expects her scientific career to continue to be productive and creative among the top early-career graduate researchers.
DAMP lab becomes member of the Global Bio-Foundries Alliance (GBA)
Kobe - May 2019
“Biofoundries provide an integrated infrastructure to enable the rapid design, construction, and testing of genetically reprogrammed organisms for biotechnology applications and research. Many biofoundries are being built and a Global Biofoundry Alliance has recently been established to coordinate activities worldwide”. The DAMP Lab became part of the Alliance, when it was formally launched on 9 th May, 2019 in Kobe, Japan, during a meeting of the Founding Members. More information about the biofoundries, the global alliance, and their objectives and working groups can be found at https://biofoundries.org/about-the-gba. Members’ perspectives on methods, protocols, instrumentation, and data were shared in a publication in Nature Communications. Find out more about it at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10079-2.
New Publication: “Standardizing Automated DNA Assembly: Best Practices, Metrics, and Protocols Using Robots”
Boston - February 2019
New Publication: “Performance Tuning of Microfluidic Flow-Focusing Droplet Generators”
Boston - February 2019
DAMP Lab Mentioned in the Publication "Improving Reproducibility in Synthetic Biology"
Denmark - February 2019
Boston - September 2018
DAMP Lab in the process to be a member of the IGSC consortium
Take a look in our partnership with Opentrons (specially after minute 38). We have both OT1 and OT2 robots in our lab and they are changing the way we deal with synthetic biology automation... for better!
The International Gene Synthesis Consortium (IGSC) is an industry-led group of gene synthesis companies and organizations formed to design and apply a common protocol to screen both the sequences of synthetic gene orders and the customers who place them. In addition, the consortium works with national and international government organizations and other interested parties to promote the beneficial application of gene synthesis technology while safeguarding biosecurity.
​
Members of the IGSC include: Ginkgo, IDT DNA, SGI-DNA, EGF, among others. We, from the DAMP Lab, are looking for contributing to make the use of synthetic DNA safe and responsible, as a member of IGSC.
​
​
Collaboration DAMP Lab and Opentrons Pictured at SynbioBeta Live!
Take a look in our partnership with Opentrons (specially after minute 38). We have both OT1 and OT2 robots in our lab and they are changing the way we deal with synthetic biology automation... for better!
San Francisco - August 2018
Global Biofoundry Alliance
London - June 2018
A meeting was held at Imperial College London on June 21st/22nd 2018, which gathered fifteen (see below) of the leading synthetic biology biofoundries from around the world to discuss current activities and exchange information on key capabilities and projects being developed by these groups. The meeting explored opportunities for collaboration and coordination in areas for global development including standards, software, metrology, automation, and industrial translation. Delegates unanimously indicated a commitment to sharing pre-competitive knowledge and expertise that would collectively benefit the synthetic biology and broader biotechnology communities worldwide. Interest in developing common protocols and standards, as well as standardised legal tools, to reduce the transaction costs of sharing were among the highlights of the two-day interactive meeting. Other areas of discussion included collective engagement with industry, governments, and other relevant organizations to achieve joint objectives, break down barriers to sharing and leverage interactive opportunities for growth. There was a general commitment to continue to explore the possibility of establishing a global alliance of synthetic biology biofoundries and work together to define and agree on an operating model. As a starting point, an annual meeting was proposed as was the establishment of small working groups to develop specific areas for global development.
​
DAMP, Boston University (US); DOE Agile Biofoundry (US); SIAT Shenzhen (China) Foundry; Concordia University (Canada); Earlham Institute (UK); London DNA Foundry Imperial College (UK); Kobe University (Japan); Macquarie University (Australia); SynCTI NUS (Singapore); Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability DTU (Denmark); Tianjin University (China)l Edinburgh Genome Foundry (UK); BioFAB University of Illinois (US); GeneMill, University of Liverpool; SYNBIOCHEM University of Manchester (UK).
