Cybernetic transdisciplinarity as pedagogy

A core characteristic of cybernetics is the construction of transdisciplinary theory through the creation of analogies between different situations in terms of feedback processes. Feedback, which can be understood as processes where the observed outcomes of action are taken as input for new action, is widespread across social, ecological, biological, and technological contexts, giving cybernetics its transdisciplinary character. Cybernetics is often abstract in character, seeking to understand principles that apply in many situations. For instance, Wiener characterized cybernetics as relevant to both “the animal and the machine”, Ashby saw it as concerned with “all possible machines”, and Mead understood it as form of language “sufficiently abstract to make it possible to cross disciplinary boundaries”. This abstraction affords cybernetics its extraordinarily broad scope, explanatory power, and transgressive character, with ideas able to move between contexts. However, this abstraction also brings limitations. First, it focuses attention on general principles at the expense of material embodiment and the specifics of a situation. Second, positioning cybernetics as explanatory tends to characterize its relation to practice in terms of a theory-application relationship that is, at least to some extent, at odds with cybernetics’ core ideas about circularity. Third, the ease with which cybernetics moves ideas between contexts risks uncritical deployments of its analogies as if they represent equivalencies, such as thinking of machines as if they are brains or vice versa. In this paper, we present a way in which cybernetic analogies may be deployed in a manner which is embodied (rather than abstract) and methodological (rather than explanatory). The example we take is from our own teaching practices, focusing on a curriculum developed in the context of supporting postgraduate architecture and design students in understanding research. This is an area in which cybernetics has theory to offer, notably Glanville’s argument that research (including scientific research) is designed. By outlining the approach to teaching and learning developed in this curriculum, we describe how Glanville’s theoretical stance may be reformulated as a pedagogic process, where students reposition their growing expertise in design as expertise in (designing) research. We discuss the advantages of this in the context of education for design research, such as avoiding positioning research as something external to design and opening research to the sorts of critique that one may apply to other design outcomes. Reviewing the legacy of this curriculum in students’ subsequent project work, we conclude by speculating on the extent to which the pedagogic approach presented here may be taken up in other practical situations

One-pot radioiodination of aryl amines via stable diazonium salts: preparation of 125I-imaging agents

An operationally simple, one-pot, two-step tandem procedure that allows the incorporation of radioactive iodine into aryl amines via stable diazonium salts is described. The mild conditions are tolerant of various functional groups and substitution patterns, allowing late-stage, rapid access to a wide range of 125I-labelled aryl compounds and SPECT radiotracers

Rapid iododeboronation with and without gold catalysis: application to radiolabelling of arenes

Radiopharmaceuticals incorporating radioactive iodine in combination with SPECT imaging play a key role in nuclear medicine, with applications in drug development and disease diagnosis. Despite this importance, there are relatively few general methods for incorporating radioiodine into small molecules. Here we describe a rapid, air- and moisture-stable ipso-iododeboronation procedure using NIS, in the non-toxic and green solvent dimethyl carbonate. The fast reaction and mild conditions of the gold-catalysed method led to the development of a highly efficient process for radiolabelling of arenes, which constitutes the first example of an application of homogenous gold catalysis to selective radiosynthesis. This has been exemplified with an effective synthesis of radiolabelled meta-[125I]iodobenzylguanidine, a radiopharmaceutical used for the imaging and therapy of human norepinephrine transporter-expressing tumours

A novel 18F-labelled high affinity agent for PET imaging of the translocator protein

The translocator protein (TSPO) is an important target for imaging focal neuroinflammation in diseases such as brain cancer, stroke and neurodegeneration, but current tracers for non-invasive imaging of TSPO have important limitations. We present the synthesis and evaluation of a novel 3-fluoromethylquinoline-2-carboxamide, AB5186, which was prepared in eight steps using a one-pot two component indium(III)-catalysed reaction for the rapid and efficient assembly of the 4-phenylquinoline core. Biological assessment and the implementation of a physicochemical study showed AB5186 to have low nanomolar affinity for TSPO, as well as optimal plasma protein binding and membrane permeability properties. Generation of [18F]-AB5186 through 18F incorporation was achieved in good radiochemical yield and subsequent in vitro and ex vivo autoradiography revealed the ability of this compound to bind with specificity to TSPO in mouse glioblastoma xenografts. Initial positron emission tomography imaging of a glioma bearing mouse and a healthy baboon support the potential for [18F]-AB5186 use as a radiotracer for non-invasive TSPO imaging in vivo

Late stage iodination of biologically active agents using a one-pot process from aryl amines

A simple and effective one-pot tandem procedure that generates aryl iodides from readily available aryl amines via stable diazonium salts has been developed. The operationally simple procedure and mild conditions allow late-stage iodination of a wide range of aryl compounds bearing various functional groups and substitution patterns. A novel synthetic strategy involving the preparation of nitroaryl compounds followed by a chemoselective tin(II) dichloride reduction and the use of the one-pot diazotisation–iodination transformation was also developed. The general applicability of this approach was demonstrated with the preparation of a number of medicinally important compounds including CNS1261, a SPECT imaging agent of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor and IBOX, a compound used to detect amyloid plaques in the brain