diff --git a/examples/custom_optimizers.py b/examples/custom_optimizers.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0c4b37e3a07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/custom_optimizers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,249 @@
+# Allow scipy.optimize.minimize to be used by Keras.
+# https://github.com/fchollet/keras/issues/5085
+# Original code by ncullen93
+# Modified by murphyk so that get_updates has correct signature instead of
+#   get_updates(self, params, constraints, loss)
+#
+# According to
+# https://github.com/fchollet/keras/blob/master/keras/optimizers.py
+# any keras optimizer has to implement the method
+#    get_updates(self, loss, params)
+# which should return a list of K.update(p, new_p) objects.
+
+
+from __future__ import division
+from __future__ import print_function
+
+import numpy as np
+import scipy as sp
+
+from keras import backend as K
+from keras.optimizers import Optimizer
+
+
+class ScipyOpt(Optimizer):
+    """
+    Scipy optimizer
+    """
+    def __init__(self, model, x, y, nb_epoch=500, method='L-BFGS-B', verbose=1, **kwargs):
+        super(ScipyOpt, self).__init__(**kwargs)
+        self.__dict__.update(locals())
+        self.model = model
+        self.x = x # input training data
+        self.y = y # output training data
+        self.nb_epoch = nb_epoch
+        self.verbose = verbose
+        self.epoch_idx = 0
+           
+
+    def get_cost_grads(self, params, loss):
+        """ 
+        Get the loss and gradients of a Keras model.
+        There are both TensorVariables.
+
+        Arguments
+        ---------
+        params : list of trainable parameters (TensorVariables)
+
+        loss : model loss function
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        loss : a TensorVariable
+            The model loss
+
+        grads : a list of TensorVariables
+            Gradients of model params w.r.t. cost
+
+        Effects
+        -------
+        None
+
+        """
+        grads = K.gradients(loss, params)
+        return loss, grads
+
+    def set_model_params(self, theta):
+        """ 
+        Sets the Keras model params from a flattened numpy array of theta 
+
+        Arguments
+        ---------
+        theta : a flattened numpy ndarray
+            The parameter values to set in the model
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        None
+
+        Effects
+        -------
+        - Sets the model parameters to the values in theta
+
+        """
+        trainable_params = self.unpack_theta(theta)
+        for trainable_param, layer in zip(trainable_params, self.model.layers):
+            layer.set_weights(trainable_param)
+            
+    def unpack_theta(self, theta):
+        """ 
+        Converts flattened theta back to tensor shapes of Keras model params 
+        
+        Arguments
+        ---------
+        model : a compiled Keras model
+
+        theta : a flattened numpy ndarray
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        weights : a list of numpy ndarrays in the shape of model params
+
+        Effects
+        -------
+        None
+
+        """        
+        weights = []
+        idx = 0
+        for layer in self.model.layers:
+            layer_weights = []
+            for param in layer.get_weights():
+                plen = np.prod(param.shape)
+                layer_weights.append(np.asarray(theta[idx:(idx+plen)].reshape(param.shape),
+                                        dtype=np.float32))
+                idx += plen
+            weights.append(layer_weights)
+        return weights
+    
+    def pack_theta(self, trainable_weights):
+        """ 
+        Flattens a set of shared variables (trainable_weights)
+        
+        Arguments
+        ---------
+        trainable_weights : a list of shared variables
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        x : a flattened numpy ndarray of trainable weight values
+
+        Effects
+        -------
+        None
+
+        """        
+        x = np.empty(0)
+        for t in trainable_weights:
+            x = np.concatenate((x,K.get_value(t).reshape(-1)))
+        return x
+    
+    def flatten_grads(self, grads):
+        """ 
+        Flattens a set of TensorVariables
+
+        Arguments
+        ---------
+        grads : a list of TensorVariables
+            Gradients of model params
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        x : a flattened list of TensorVariables
+
+        Effects
+        -------
+        None
+
+        """       
+        x = np.empty(0) 
+        for g in grads:
+            x = np.concatenate((x,g.reshape(-1)))
+        return x
+    
+    def get_train_fn(self, params, loss):
+        """
+        Get Scipy training function that returns loss and gradients
+
+        Arguments
+        ---------
+        params : a list of trainable keras TensorVariables
+
+        loss : a TensorVariable
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        train_fn : a callable python function
+            A scipy.optimize-compatible function returning loss & grads
+
+        Effects
+        -------
+        - Alters the trainable parameters of the input Keras model here.
+        """
+        cost, grads = self.get_cost_grads(params, loss)
+        outs = [cost]
+        if type(grads) in {list, tuple}:
+            outs += grads
+        else:
+            outs.append(grads) 
+        if self.verbose > 0:
+            print('Compiling Training Function..')
+            
+        # fn = K.function(inputs=[], outputs=outs,
+        #         givens={self.model.model.inputs[0]          : self.x,
+        #                 self.model.model.targets[0]         : self.y,
+        #                 self.model.model.sample_weights[0]  : np.ones((self.x.shape[0],), dtype=np.float32),
+    #                 K.learning_phase()                  : np.uint8(1)})
+    # The above code has a 'givens' kwarg which is not supported by
+    # https://github.com/fchollet/keras/blob/master/keras/backend/tensorflow_backend.py#L2277
+        
+                
+        def train_fn(theta):
+            self.set_model_params(theta)
+            cost_grads = fn([])
+            cost = np.asarray(cost_grads[0], dtype=np.float64)
+            
+            if self.verbose > 0:
+                if self.epoch_idx % 1 == 0:
+                    try:
+                        print('Epoch : %i/%i Loss : %f' % (self.epoch_idx, 
+                            self.nb_epoch, cost))
+                    except ValueError:
+                        pass
+            grads = np.asarray(self.flatten_grads(cost_grads[1:]), dtype=np.float64)
+            if self.verbose > 1:
+                if self.epoch_idx % 25 == 0:
+                    try:
+                        print('Avg. Grad: ' , grads.mean())
+                    except ValueError:
+                        pass
+            self.epoch_idx+=1
+            return cost, grads
+
+        return train_fn
+
+    #def get_updates(self, params, constraints, loss):
+    def get_updates(self, params, loss):  # murphyk
+        #self.x = self.model.model.ins[0]
+        #self.y = self.model.model.ins[1]
+        #_params = params.copy()
+        theta0 = self.pack_theta(params)
+        train_fn = self.get_train_fn(params, loss)
+        
+        sp.optimize.minimize(train_fn, theta0,
+            method=self.method, jac=True, 
+            options={'maxiter':self.nb_epoch,'disp':False})
+
+        #theta_final = weights.x
+        self.updates = []
+        #final_params = self.unpack_theta(theta_final)
+        #for orig, final in zip(params, final_params):
+         #   self.updates.append((orig, final))
+        return self.updates
+
+    def get_config(self):
+        config = {'lr': float(K.get_value(self.lr)),
+                  'epsilon': self.epsilon}
+        base_config = super(ScipyOpt, self).get_config()
+        return dict(list(base_config.items()) + list(config.items()))
+
diff --git a/examples/linearRegression.py b/examples/linregPmtkEmulator.py
similarity index 100%
rename from examples/linearRegression.py
rename to examples/linregPmtkEmulator.py
diff --git a/examples/mlpIrisKeras.py b/examples/mlpIrisKeras.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ad029fcd401
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/mlpIrisKeras.py
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+
+# MLP  on 3 class Iris data
+
+
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+import numpy as np
+from sklearn import linear_model, datasets, metrics
+
+import keras
+from keras.models import Sequential
+from keras.layers import Dense, Activation
+
+# import the data 
+iris = datasets.load_iris()
+X = iris.data[:, :2]  # we only take the first two features.
+Y = iris.target
+
+ndim = X.shape[1]
+nclasses = len(np.unique(Y))
+one_hot_labels = keras.utils.to_categorical(Y, num_classes=nclasses)
+
+
+# logreg as baseline
+logreg = linear_model.LogisticRegression(C=1e5, multi_class='multinomial', solver='lbfgs')
+logreg.fit(X, Y)
+predicted = logreg.predict(X)
+accuracy_logreg = metrics.accuracy_score(Y, predicted)
+print(accuracy_logreg) # 0.833
+
+# MLP with 0 hidden layers - should match logreg
+model = Sequential([
+    Dense(nclasses, input_shape=(ndim,)),
+    Activation('softmax'),
+])
+
+# Fit
+
+import tensorflow as tf
+import scipy
+
+#import custom_optimizers
+import imp
+# we assume we're executing from /Users/kpmurphy/github/pyprobml
+imp.load_source('custom_opt', 'examples/custom_optimizers.py')
+import custom_opt
+
+opt = keras.optimizers.Adam()
+#opt = custom_opt.ScipyOpt(model=model, x=X, y=Y, nb_epoch=10)
+
+lossfn = keras.losses.categorical_crossentropy
+
+# 
+# opt_bfgs_scipy = scipy.optimize.fmin_l_bfgs_b
+# lossfn_train = lambda ypred: lossfn(Y, ypred)
+# #tfopt = tf.contrib.opt.ScipyOptimizerInterface(lossfn_train, options={'maxiter': 100})
+# opt_bfgs_tf = opt_bfgs_scipy
+# opt_bfgs = keras.optimizers.TFOptimizer(opt_bfgs_tf)
+
+model.compile(loss=lossfn,
+              optimizer=opt,
+              metrics=['accuracy'])
+history = model.fit(X, one_hot_labels, epochs=500, batch_size=20, verbose=1)
+
+# Plot training speed
+loss_trace = history.history['loss']
+acc_trace = history.history['acc']
+plt.figure()
+plt.subplot(1,2,1)
+plt.plot(loss_trace)
+plt.title('loss')
+plt.subplot(1,2,2)
+plt.plot(acc_trace)
+plt.title('accuracy')
+plt.show()
+