Can We Create Life (Lecture with Slide Show)

Again, you can get this files yourself by going to the URL outlined below, so if you're worried about your ratio go to the site listed and download the video.

Please remember this is a lecture with a powerpoint presentation. It is not a commercial quality Discovery or BBC style documentary. In other words, it is not entertainment. It is a lecture. The quality of the video is not great because it is produced to live stream.

The website provides downloads for just about everything is presents (100s of lectures, lecture notes etc.) It's an incredible resource for anyone wishing to actually learn something.

For "Can We Create Life" there are no lecture notes or transcripts. Just the video and the information on the site which I've placed in the text file.

You can go fora.tv, use the search function and obtain lectures on just about anything. I highly recommend the site.

This particular lecture may be found at:

http://fora.tv/2009/11/08/Can_We_Create_Life

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Summary

Professors Carlos Bustamante and John Kuriyan discuss the possibility of creating simple life forms in the laboratory.

01. Introduction 03 min 34
02. A Definition of Life 06 min 24
03. Properties of Living Systems 05 min 54
04. Complexity of Biological Systems 04 min 06
05. Nature's Design Process 07 min 03
06. Understanding Evolution with Hemoglobin 05 min 57
07. How the Nervous System Works 07 min 02
08. Creating a Minimal Cell 04 min 16
09. Approaches to Building a Cell 04 min 46
10. Put Engineered Genome into Mitochondria 07 min 29
11. When to Expect Successful Synthesis of Life 01 min 57
12. Why Life Developed So Soon on Earth 03 min 50
13. Q1: All Living Things Have DNA 01 min 56
14. Q2: Purpose of Living Organisms 03 min 13
15. Q3: Language of Intent of Nature 01 min 15
16. Q4: Ethical Issues of Engineering Life 03 min 34
17. Q5: Computer Simulation 03 min 19
18. Q6: Benefits of Creating Life 03 min 04
19. Q7: Lack of Self-Assembly Mechanisms on Other Worlds 02 min 11

Location: UC Berkeley, CA
Event Date: November 8, 09
Speakers: Carlos Bustamante, John Kuriyan

Bio

Carlos Bustamante

Bustamante is professor of molecular and cell biology, physics, and chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, a position he has held since 1998. He received his B.S. degree from Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, his masters in biochemistry from San Marcos University, and his Ph.D. degree in biophysics from UC Berkeley, where he studied with Ignacio Tinoco, Jr. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Bustamante studied with Marc Maestre. Before moving to Berkeley, he was an HHMI investigator at the University of Oregon.

Carlos Bustamante uses novel methods of single-molecule visualization, such as scanning force microscopy, to study the structure and function of nucleoprotein assemblies. His laboratory is developing methods of single-molecule manipulation, such as optical tweezers, to characterize the elasticity of DNA, to induce the mechanical unfolding of individual protein molecules, and to investigate the machine-like behavior of molecular motors.

John Kuriyan

John Kuriyan is currently Chancellor's Professor at the University of California Berkeley in the departments of Molecular and Cell Biology (MCB) and Chemistry. He is also a Faculty Scientist in Berkeley Lab's Physical Biosciences Division, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Kuriyan received his B.S. in chemistry from Juniata College in Pennsylvania, followed by his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under Gregory Petsko and Martin Karplus. He did postdoctoral work for one year under Karplus at Harvard before becoming an assistant professor at the Rockefeller University.

Kuriyan's laboratory studies the structure and mechanism of enzymes and other proteins that transduce cellular signals and perform DNA replication. The laboratory primarily uses x-ray crystallography to determine 3-D protein structures as well as biochemical, biophysical, and computational techniques to uncover the mechanisms used by these proteins.

Enjoy!