Contributing a Developer Note
Developer Notes (DevNotes) are a concise form of scientific communication designed to rapidly share insights and results of interest to the Nucleus and broader synthetic cell communities. Since they are built on top of Jupyter Notebooks, DevNotes can easily integrate code and a variety of file types, bundling an entire research workflow into a discrete package.
What can I contribute as a DevNote?¶
Anything related to PURE-based cytosols and synthetic cells is solidly within the scope of Nucleus. Ideally, contributions should build on existing components of the Nucleus Distribution in some way. There is no limitation on how long or short a DevNote should be. A good rule of thumb is that you should be able to describe your DevNote in one sentence. Some examples might include:
Module development. Experimental data showing that a genetically encoded module works in PURE. The corresponding DevNote should include data, a design file containing sequence information, and a protocol showing how to implement the module. See the MTHFS and PPK modules, as an example.
Plans. If you have a plan for developing a single module or for integrating existing modules, feel free to submit it as a DevNote to let others know how you’re thinking about approaching the problem and get feedback from others earlier. DevNotes can be updated so experimental data can be included along the way. See the ClpXP and Developer Cell DevNotes as examples of planning DevNotes for single module and multimodule integration, respectively.
Existing work If you have already published work that you think might be useful to the Nucleus Community, submit the relevant design files and protocols to make it accessible to others. We’d be excited to work with you to help integrate your work into Nucleus. See the Cx43 Cell as an example.
Experimental replication. If you’re planning to use a component from the existing Nucleus Distribution or from the literature as part of a larger experiment, sharing that the module works in PURE in your hands would be valuable to others.
Technical Notes. If you have a trick you use for making routine lab work more efficient or more reliable, share it with others.
Open questions. If there are questions that you feel are worth writing up and of interest to this community, others would probably love to know about them and might even have some answers!
Learn More¶
If you’d like to contribute a DevNote please reach out to build@bnext.bio. To learn more about the Nucleus Ecosystem please check out the following resources:
