James King

For the last two weeks I have been immersed in the world of the wet-lab. I was lucky enough to participate in Cambridge University’s crash course in Synthetic Biology which Jim Haseloff’s lab holds each year for the undergraduates taking part in the iGem competition. It has been an amazing experience. Our mornings were spent in back-to-back lectures on a wide array of subjects including bacteria, molecular biology, computer modelling of biological systems, microfluidics, and ethics. The afternoons were spent in the wet-lab performing experiments and learning how to use the tools of molecular biology: everything from pipets to robotic plate readers.

James Brown