Sim Castle

Latest paper, Engineering is Evolution, is now out in @NatureComms! It was great fun working on this one with @chofski and @Michielstock doi.org/10.1038/s41467…

#Engineering is #evolution 🧐 ...perhaps? In the latest from the lab @NatureComms we explore what "#design" might mean when engineering biology and the unifying role of evolution. Work led by the brilliant @simcastle with @Michielstock #synbio doi.org/10.1038/s41467…

Rhythmic Attractor, an album of biodelic music, is now on SoundCloud on.soundcloud.com/rwJQs

@AdrianWoolfson @chofski @tweethinking Yeah, it was a great discussion :)

@chofski @simcastle @tweethinking And what a great person to have examining!

Congratulations Dr @simcastle 🥳 #evolution + #synbio will never be the same! Massive thanks to @tweethinking and Mark Isalan for examining. You can check out some of Sim’s latest work at osf.io/preprints/osf/…

@Michielstock @chofski Will be great to have your thoughts! It discusses some stuff like CK theory that we've chatted about before.

@chofski @simcastle Something to read when I'm back from the holidays!

🚨In new work led by @simcastle, we consider what it means to engineer something and what exactly the design process is. By linking to key engineering literature that has been overlooked by much of #synbio to date, we find evolution is a unifying concept. osf.io/urq9w/

@Michielstock See you soon Michiel, Looking forward to chatting evolution again :)

So I am in Bristol for the coming months. Anyone in the neighborhood interested in a chat about biotech, food 5.0, board games, cooking, programming, bouldering, phages, scifi, machine learning, evolution... with a beverage?

@yaxu I make music using evolutionary algorithms (genetic algorithms, gene networks) and biological datasets, if that's of interest soundcloud.com/sim-castle

@drmichaellevin Not cogsci, but CK theory by Hatchuel and Weill, and "What engineers know and how they know it" by Vincenti are worth a look

Evolutionary processes drive complexity without “design”, ok. But in uncontroversial cases of design: what's an engineer *actually* doing under the hood? Same generate-select-vary cycle, just virtual mental sim, or smthg more? Pointers pls to cogsci lit dissecting design process.

📢Latest paper out @NatComms "Massively parallel characterisation of engineered transcript isoforms using direct RNA sequencing" We learn to control flows along DNA by repurposing terminators as transcriptional valves! @co_evolver @BrisBioDesign @synbioCDT nature.com/articles/s4146…

"It took years — eight years and counting in exile — for me to realize that I was missing the point: we talk about conspiracy theories in order to avoid talking about conspiracy practices, which are often too daunting, too threatening, too total." edwardsnowden.substack.com/p/conspiracy-p…

As always #IWBDA2021 was great! If you'd like to see what my lab is up to, my keynote is now available to watch online. I hope it sparks interest in some of you to go #beyondGFP and #engineerevolution! 🦠💻🛠️🦀 #synbio #biodesign #biocomputation youtube.com/watch?v=gyOI7F…

@co_evolver Interesting! thanks

@Arsham_N_K @JordiPaps @grahbudd Good luck with it Arsham!

"carbon footprint" is a concept invented by BP to shift responsibility away from oil companies and onto individuals mashable.com/feature/carbon…

@drmichaellevin Ah okay just like the classic mandelbrot plots then. Thanks. The results are stunning!

@simcastle Halley's, Newton's, Stevenson's, etc. = methods to find roots of an equation in Z. Iterative: start with a guess, keep going until it converges. The color of each pixel = how fast it converged (or not) when starting with that coordinate (x,y) = x+yi as an initial guess for Z.

A Halley plot of a very simple function in complex Z, with each frame a tiny change in one of the parameters. Amazing how much coherent complexity is hidden in such a short function.

Can anyone recommend a Bristol-based children's charity to give small cash donations?

New paper out in @NAR_Open on efficient use of dCas12a for multiplexed gene regulation in yeast 🥳 Epic effort lead by @KlaudiaCiurkot at @DSM as part of the EU SynCrop ETN. Great foundation for future genetic circuit design! #synbio #crispr @BrisBioDesign doi.org/10.1093/nar/gk…

@drmichaellevin Loving these book suggestions!

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