Cyborg, cloud platform for integrating diverse domains of science

Engineering biological systems involves a wide range of experimental methods and domains of expertise. For example, designing a small RNA inhibitor for modifying the macroscopic properties of a tissue would involve thermodynamic analysis of RNA folding, bioinformatics analysis, 3D multi-cellular morphology, and much more. In order to streamline such engineering projects and for biological engineering to be accessible to a diverse set of individuals, it is necessary to have an infrastructure that allows individuals with expertise in one domain to quickly understand and use engineered products of another domain. Further, in order to expand the body of researchers, individuals with little expertise in any domain, such as students, should not be intimidated to propose and test complex engineering projects. Autodesk Cyborg is a cloud based platform that aims to fulfill this need. Cyborg uses a domain agnostic visual language to link concepts and methods from different domains. The initial set of domains that Cyborg is focusing on are bioprinting, metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, DNA computing, and 4D printing. Cyborg allows users to build and share applications. The metabolic engineering component of Cyborg allows users to find metabolic reactions from a given set of genetic components and vice versa. It serves as a starting point for others to add new functionalities pertinent to metabolic engineering.