Molecular Programming Society Newsletter #1, June 2021

Dear all,

Welcome to the first newsletter of The Molecular Programming Society. We’re really excited to share what we’re working on, and hope that this newsletter will serve to keep the community updated on the latest happenings in our field.

First of all, who are we?

The Molecular Programming Society is a grassroots organisation whose purpose is to foster community-building projects in the field. The Art of Molecular Programming (AoMP) textbook is our flagship project, and seeks to organise our collective knowledge into an intuitive volume for instructors, researchers, and students. AoMP is driven by talented and inspirational scientists from across the world and at all career stages on our editorial team, advisory board, and soon, as authors.

Best wishes

The Molecular Programming Society

The Art of Molecular Programming: Progress update

  • Our topic editorial boards (Structures, Circuits, and Interfaces) have finalised their tables of contents. The merged table of contents has been sent out to our Faculty Advisory Board. Our textbook will cover theoretical, computational, and practical aspects of molecular programming, with topics ranging from the principles of computing, its implementation using molecules, through to biological interfacing, and so much more!

  • We have added a new foundations chapter. This chapter aims to bring everyone up to speed, regardless of background. It will include basic biology, principles of thermodynamics, models of chemical reaction networks, and an introduction to common experimental methods used in the field. Leo Green, William Poole, and Brenda Rubenstein have begun contributing first drafts, which constitute the first parts of the book to be written. How exciting to have finally put pen to paper!

  • Finally, the style guide, theory notation, and art styles have been mostly finalised into a guideline packet for our authors, giving us a glimpse into what the book will ultimately look and feel like.

  • We are now moving into the author recruitment process, and we are all looking forward to seeing who joins our project!

Miscellaneous

  • Have we missed someone who you think would be interested in joining the Faculty Advisory Board? If so, please get in touch with the executive board and let them know.

  • As a reminder, we have a website which you can access at molecularprogrammers.org.

  • We have a sister society, molpigs, which runs a podcast and a regular newsletter. Get in touch with them and find out more at molpi.gs