I spent most of the day trying to get my newest Gene Expression model working. At BioQUEST I created two gene expression models using netlogo, but subsequently had a cool idea for a lab for students Intro Biology. The first model is a concrete model, of the lac operon, one of the classic gene expression models. The second model shows how genes can interact like logical gates: AND, OR, NAND, etc. I'm planning to build one more model that illustrates feedback. The setup I worked on today would be to present "unknown" problems to students where they would be confronted with a system of 5 genes interacting with one another and would knock out genes in combination to try to deduce what all of the interrelationships are. I got most of it programmed and am now bugfixing: the system has a tendency to have some genes get "stuck on" even when there doesn't seem to be protein bound to the promoter. Sigh... I hate fixing bugs.
Tomorrow, I'm headed to Quinnipiac University to give a talk on wikis. Randy and I spoke there about a year about using problem-solving in lecture to motivate active learning. It was a great audience with lots of interest and good questions. I'm looking forward to a chance to try to show off the cool stuff we're doing with wikis.