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Engineering Biology in Cambridge

 

The 2021 virtual Cambridge Festival is running until the 4th of April. Topics cover the breadth of Cambridge research, with several interesting talks and events covering the intersection of biology, engineering and computing.

 

1st April

1:00-1:45pm - A microscope on steroids: Using cryogenic electron microscopy to image biological molecules
In this talk, Dr Amanda Chaplin from the Department of Biochemistry will discuss how scientists can use electrons to image and obtain three-dimensional pictures of biological molecules, such as proteins and DNA. The talk will be followed by a Q&A session.

6:00-7:00pm - The Really Popular Book Club: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The Really Popular Book Club is hosted by Cambridge University Library and everyone is invited to join our discussion of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Speakers include Prof. Andrea Brand and Prof. Nick Hopwood.

7:00-8:30pm - Using maths to clean the oceans
Dr Tom Crawford will discuss his work creating a mathematical model for river outflows. The goal is to predict which areas are most susceptible to pollution from rivers and thus coordinate ocean clean-up operations.

 

2nd April

12:00-1:00pm - Research into COVID-19 at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (Addenbrooke's)
Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust has funded over £2m of research into diagnostics and treatments for COVID-19. In this webinar you will hear clinicians from Addenbrooke's and the University of Cambridge.

6:00-6:30pm - Suffer the little robots? The moral and legal status of artificial beings
In this talk, Dr Henry Shelvin suggests that there is good reason for lawyers, politicians, philosophers, and scientists to start grappling with how we could identify suffering in beings radically different from ourselves, and how we should respond to the moral concerns of sentient AI as a society.

 


3rd April

2:00-3:00pm - The fine print: Towards wearable electronics
We present recent advances in additive manufacturing of functional (nano)materials to create devices for wearable electronics. A pre-recorded talk will be available throughout the Cambridge Festival with a live Q&A session at 2pm on the 3rd of April.

4:30-5:30pm - Engineering biology everywhere: A threat or the key to a sustainable future?
What would happen if everybody could have access to the tools to engineer biology? Join us in this conversation to try to untangle this complex topic. Panelists include Dr Jenny Molloy, Anna Verena Eireiner and Dr Fernan Federici.

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