Modelling Workshop at the U.K. meet up

Overview

[1] On Friday the 12th of July our team was at UCL for the iGEM U.K. meet up. We delivered a workshop about Mathematical modelling and using the rule-based modelling language BioNetGen.

We first gave a presentation covering the following areas:

• What is modelling?

• The benefits of rule-based modelling.

• The difference between deterministic and stochastic modelling.

• How to build a Michaelis-Menten model with BioNetGen.

NB. Information about modelling the Subtilin system is included in our lecture slides on our wiki for the extra keen but was not covered in our talk.

We then ran a practice session in which we helped people get to grips with the BioNetGen language and the software required to produce models (Rulebender). We provided a hand-out guiding people in how to build a Michaelis-Menten model and a simplified Lac operon model. We were also happy to help build models for attendees own iGEM projects.

Slides and handouts

Links to our slides, hand-outs and feedback form are listed below:

Workshop handout (incl. information about BioNetGen syntax)

Workshop Feedback

Feedback form used in the workshop is here Feedback Form

After we presented our workshop, attendees filled in their feedback forms. The mean results from these forms are listed below:

1. The workshop talk was:

• Relevant 4.6

• Easy to understand 4.33

• Well-paced 4.27

2. The BioNetGen practice was:

• Useful 4.13

• Complemented the talk 4.4

3. The workshop overall:

• Was well structured 4.2

• Will help you build your own models 3.87

• Interesting 4.6

4. Workshop handouts:

• Supported presentation material 4.13

• Aided you in building a model 4

• Were clear and well-organized 4.07

5. The presenters were:

• Knowledgeable 4.33

• Well-prepared 4.47

• Responsive to participants’ questions 4.6

The feedback we received suggests that people found our workshop interesting and well structured. The part of feedback we scored lowest on was for helping people build their own model, possibly because they are using different software to build models. We also think we could improve the clarity of our handouts to guide people through our prepared exercises more effectively. We enjoyed delivering this workshop and feel the feedback shows our workshop was a success.