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The show and tell sessions at the Summer Science Exhibition were a lot of fun, and gave the exhibiting teams the opportunity to say a bit more about some of the items they had on display. Today's video is a snippet from the Clever Microbes show and tell session. Clever Microbes team member Paul Kirk uses 3d protein models, together with a story about contacting the President of the USA through Facebook, to explain how bacterial cells sense and respond to their environment.

Grow em at home

Thank you to everyone who has sent us pictures of the microbes they grew at home following our petri dish giveaway at the summer science exhibition. Here are some of the best pictures... (If you have pictures too, send them in we'd love to see them! Although we hope nobody can beat those of Fred and Irene...) Colonies of microbes from the mouths of Andy and Emily

and some great ones from Flora's dog

finally, the bacteria that came from Fred and Irene, wow guys! Please don't open that dish...

summer-science-blog

How do bacteria make decisions? Adam MacLean talks us through his PhD work to find out! Find out more about his exhibit here: http://sse.royalsociety.org/2013/exhibits/clever-microbes

Come one, come all

What a week we are having! Discussion, exploration, inspiration. The summer science exhibition is truly for all ages. Because explaining what you do to somebody eager never gets old. Because learning never gets old.

The exhibition is open tonight until 9pm and all weekend.

Works in progress

Many hours have gone in to the preparation of all the material that we are bringing to the Royal Society. Here we thought we would share with you a few shots from the last few weeks.

Working on the set of upcoming blockbuster The Life of COLIn

The inception of a game called 'blocks'...

...and another game. I'm not even sure what this one is called, but I'm sure it is going to be great fun. See you soon!

Introducing Aaron Sim, ex-Physicist, now Systems Biologist, father, and player of racquet sports.

Meet him, and all of us, in just one week!

Introducing Justina Zurauskiene! In our second special profile video, meet another member of the team who is raring to go.

What discovery or invention could you not live without?

Clever microbes are releasing exclusive profile videos of some of our esteemed team members over the next 3 days! (These are in addition to the ones you can watch over here.)

First up is Paul Kirk. If this video leaves you wanting more, don't worry, you will be able to catch up with Paul very soon at the exhibition!

Biological WotW: Evolution

Where does all of this variation come from?

We have already seen what the genotype is (the complete set of instructions of an organism). Now it is important to note that it is not fixed over time. Changes in the genotype are called mutations. They correspond to changes in the instructions used to make what the organism needs to survive. Not all the modifications will have the same impact on the organism: some will have no consequence at all, whilst others can have a large effect. The process of random change over time is very important in evolution, but it is just half of the story. Another important element is the process of natural selection. Different organisms in a given area will compete for the available resources in order to multiply. An organism can have a mutation that could make its phenotype better than others. In this situation it will have more descendants, spreading this new genotype. Over long periods of time, the organism with the best phenotype will survive at the expense of the others. Mutations and selection are the keystones of Evolution. In the Clever Microbes team, we study the evolution of bacterial abilities to sense and react to the environment.

Biological WotW: Phenotype

A phenotype corresponds to the observable characteristics or traits of an organism such as eye colour, or height. Phenotypes result from the expression of an organism's genes as well as the influence of environmental factors and the interactions between the two. Not all organisms with the same genotype look or act the same way because the phenotype is influenced by the environment. The interaction between genotype and phenotype has the following relationship: genotype (G) + environment (E) → phenotype (P) Similarly, not all organisms that look alike necessarily have the same genotype.

Computational WotW: Prior Knowledge

Prior Knowledge is everything we already know. When we are trying to solve a given biological question, we can usually build on previous research. Knowledge has been accumulated for decades and using this information in the most efficient way is one of the responsibilities of researchers. So using knowledge already collected is important but often difficult. Not all available knowledge is useful. Let's take a example: you want to know the time needed to go from your home to the swimming pool using a motorcycle but you have never previously made this trip using a motorcycle. However, you have some prior knowledge because you have already made the trip using other vehicles. The objective is to use this information to get an idea of the time you will need to make the trip using the motorcycle. In this case, you have previously made the trip with a bicycle, and a car. Which one of these trips is the most informative? The trip by bicycle will not be very informative. A motorcycle has a shape similar to a bicycle but the motorcycle is much faster than the bicycle. The journey done with the car will be informative. A motorcycle has a different shape from a car but they both travel at similar speeds. In this problem the similarity in speed is more important than the difference in shape. In this example we have selected the prior knowledge to use (the car journey) to get an idea of the time needed to drive a motorcycle from your home to the swimming pool. In their work, the clever-microbes team regularly has to identify relevant prior knowledge in order to investigate the biology of bacteria and other living organisms.

Biological WotW: Genotype

We have already seen that proteins are vital molecules in charge of everything that happens inside an organism through the different ways that they interact. The information necessary to build a given protein is stored in a gene. Each living organism contains a number of genes -- sometimes hundreds, sometimes thousands -- and this collection is called the genome. An organism with 4 genes will have the following genome:

Often, several versions of the same gene exist, for example Gene-1 can exist in two different versions: Gene-1a and Gene-1b. In humans, a single gene is responsible for the colour of the eyes. It is because there are several versions of this gene that different people have different eye colours: Gene-1a could produce brown eyes and Gene-1b green eyes. The list of gene versions of a given organism is called the genotype. In our example of an organism with 4 genes in the genome, two different individuals might have the genotypes shown below.

Genotype of Alice

Genotype of Bob Remember that the genotype is just part of the story! In two weeks our Biological WotW will explain the difference between genes and behaviour or, in other words, the difference between recipe and cake.

Computational WotW: Simulation

A simulation is the imitation of a system over time. It is a 'virtual experiment' that we can do that is easier and quicker than investigating the actual system. Simulations are often done using computers. Using a model and a set of initial (starting) conditions, a simulation calculates the behaviour of the system and gives us predictions we can take away and test. A good example of the use of simulations can be found in the analysis of traffic flow. Using simulation, we can look at how the number of cars on the road influences traffic jams and study how often jams will happen on a given network (like the roads of London). Simulations are widely used to study living organisms. When new drugs are created, simulations can be used both to understand what impacts the new drug will have on the body, and then later to work out what treatment regime will work best (how much of a drug and when). We use simulations to understand how bacteria react to their environment. They are a fundamental tool in systems biology. ------ In our Word of the Week feature, we explain some of the fundamental scientific words that describe our research into how bacteria sense and respond to the world. We hope it’s helpful. If anything is unclear, ask us!

Impfest! (no, not pixies)

The joy brought by the miraculous sunny bank holiday is nothing in comparison to the fun that was had by the masses that attended the Imperial Festival on Friday and Saturday. It was fantastic to be able to chat to so many different people and answer their questions about research and science. We were excited to debut the Clever Microbes game, which was played by people of all ages – who wouldn’t want to play on an iPad? The 3D screen was also a hit – gadget-lovers were able to see how 3D technology is used to visualise and explore the structure of cell components.

Guests enjoy a virtual 3D experience of protein structures. We also couldn’t resist bringing some of our wet-lab experiments to the show room, so children could enjoy smelling different stinky gels that we use to feed and grow bacteria. They were able to see some harmless microbes that scientists have been growing on some of these gels, and even the effect of antibiotics: stopping these microbes in their tracks.

Team members Siobhan, Delphine and Virginia playing the Clever Microbes game with attendees at the festival. In addition to our stand, from projectiles to robots, there was something for everyone at impfest. It was a great opportunity to try out parts of the exhibit that we are eagerly preparing for the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, which we are certain is going to be as exciting and engaging as this past weekend’s event!

Flyers! We think they're well fly. Although they don't fly well.

Imperial festival this week!

On Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th of May, come see Clever Microbes at the Imperial Festival! We will be showcasing our work alongside many other exhibitors at this extravaganza of science in South Kensington.

Visitors will be the first to preview our different projects that are currently in development en route to the Royal Society Summer Exhibition.

Come play level 1 of the Clever Microbes Game

Experience proteins through 3D models and simulation

Ask who are the smelliest microbes?

There are scores of activities and exhibits to explore at the festival in addition to Clever Microbes. Peek behind the scenes at some of the college's top research facilities, listen to scientists on soapboxes and experience surgery, live! (Maybe even take part yourself.) Also, keep your eyes peeled for Isaac Newton.

So how do brainless microbes make decisions? Join us to find out!

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