Thursday, February 25, 2021

Getting close to a SynBio StackExchange!

Synthetic Biology StackExchange is one step closer to launching! We've now passed the definition phase for the site, and as soon as we have a critical mass of people committing to participate in the beta, the site will be officially launched. 

I'm very excited about getting this site going, since I think it will be an extremely valuable resource for many thousands of folks working in the area. I know even as an expert, I'm quite naive about a lot of details in the laboratory and issues outside of my own areas of expertise, and really look forward to asking as well as answering questions.

If you're interested too, please go to the site and commit to the beta today!


Monday, February 08, 2021

Come help define a Synthetic Biology StackExchange!

In the actual practice of working in synthetic biology, there are so many pragmatic details that don't get captured well in scientific papers. Right now, they are basically passed around by word of mouth, through oral tradition amongst students in a lab or hallway conversations at conferences. But there is a better way.

Pretty much everybody who programs makes use of StackOverflow, which provides well-curated answers for programming questions. The greater network of StackExchange sites spun off of it provides a great one-stop-shop for lots of other communities as well, from math, physics, and chemistry to travel, cooking, and personal finance. The iGEM Engineering Committee, as part of its educational mission, is trying to do the same for synthetic biology

Synthetic biology field is rapidly growing, highly cross-disciplinary (which means none of us can be experts at everything), and we think it could use a good, universal database of questions and answers. It will be good for students learning the field, and also good for professionals who need to know things outside of their personal expertise.  

Right now, we're in the "definition" phase at StackExchange, and need about 100 more people to add example questions and vote for example questions they like. Just follow this link or click on the imagebelow, make an account, and you can start asking and voting too!