An automated design, build, test, learn cycle to engineer genetic networks

Synthetic biology is a nascent discipline that applies the engineering methods to biology. The design, build, test, learn (DBTL) cycle is a framework that helps to systematize the engineering process. However, the existing tools only cover just a fraction of the DBTL cycle, and they lack interoperability with other tools to completely close the loop.

In this talk, I will discuss some advances towards an automated DBTL cycle powered by software and robots. I will show how by using the free software and open standards, we were able to shorten the DBTL cycle to less than two weeks. I will also discuss how this could increase the speed of scientific discoveries and improve the reproducibility of experiments.