Cloud security and genetic switch: News from the College

by Hayley Dunning, Andrew Youngson, Caroline Brogan

12 June 2020

Here’s a batch of fresh news and announcements from across Imperial.

From new ways to make cloud computing applications more trustworthy, to a small ‘switch’ for turning genes on and off, here is some quick-read news from across the College.

Cloud security

The UKRI have announced funding for a new research project called CloudCAP: Capability-based Isolation for Cloud Native Applications. Led by Professors Peter Pietzuch and Sophia Drossopoulou in collaboration with Microsoft Research, the project will look at exploiting new hardware features to make cloud computing applications more secure and trustworthy. This could increase its potential applications, like storing healthcare data and machine learning codes.

The researchers say working with industry on initiatives like this enable maximum usefulness and impact. Professor Pietzuch of the Department of Computing said: “This funding launches an exciting collaboration with industry, and could help us tighten security in cloud computing so it can be used to its full potential.”

The grant will support two new post-doctoral researchers over three years.

Protein engineering boost

CRISPR is used by researchers to edit genomes and change an organism’s DNA. An important part of the process is finding the right guide RNA – a sequence of nucleotides (DNA building blocks) that will target the correct gene.

However, many researchers want to edit proteins instead, which are assembled out of amino acids programmed by genes. While databases and algorithms exist for finding guide RNA for genes, none existed for easy discovery of guide RNA for proteins.

Now, researchers from Imperial have created CRISPR-TAPE, a search platform specifically for guide RNA for the amino acids that make up proteins. This could help accelerate research into protein engineering, with applications in drug discovery and testing.

Read more in Molecular Systems Biology: ‘CRISPR ?TAPE: protein?centric CRISPR guide design for targeted proteome engineering’.

Smallest genetic switch

Imperial researchers have created the smallest dual transcription factor – a ‘switch’ that can turn adjacent genes on and off, controlling their functions. Natural transcription factors, which are types of proteins, are hundreds of amino acids long, but the team’s artificial one is made up of only 63 amino acids.

This miniaturisation could make delivering transcription factors into cells easier, such as for treating diseases, or could help in the construction of artificial systems.

To make the transcription factor, the team created a directed evolution platform – a way to speed up evolution of protein configuration in a lab. They say the platform – called PACEmid – could be used to easily create other kinds of proteins, such as enzymes.

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