Research

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Synthetic Biology underpins advances in the bioeconomy

Biological systems - including the simplest cells - exhibit a broad range of functions to thrive in their environment. Research in the Imperial College Centre for Synthetic Biology is focused on the possibility of engineering the underlying biochemical processes to solve many of the challenges facing society, from healthcare to sustainable energy. In particular, we model, analyse, design and build biological and biochemical systems in living cells and/or in cell extracts, both exploring and enhancing the engineering potential of biology. 

As part of our research we develop novel methods to accelerate the celebrated Design-Build-Test-Learn synthetic biology cycle. As such research in the Centre for Synthetic Biology highly multi- and interdisciplinary covering computational modelling and machine learning approaches; automated platform development and genetic circuit engineering ; multi-cellular and multi-organismal interactions, including gene drive and genome engineering; metabolic engineering; in vitro/cell-free synthetic biology; engineered phages and directed evolution; and biomimetics, biomaterials and biological engineering.

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Dwijayanti:2022:nar/gkab1301,
author = {Dwijayanti, A and Storch, M and Stan, G-B and Baldwin, GS},
doi = {nar/gkab1301},
journal = {Nucleic Acids Research},
title = {A modular RNA interference system for multiplexed gene regulation},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkab1301},
volume = {50},
year = {2022}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - The rational design and realisation of simple-to-use genetic control elements that are modular, orthogonal and robust is essential to the construction of predictable and reliable biological systems of increasing complexity. To this effect, we introduce modular Artificial RNA interference (mARi), a rational, modular and extensible design framework that enables robust, portable and multiplexed post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in Escherichia coli. The regulatory function of mARi was characterised in a range of relevant genetic contexts, demonstrating its independence from other genetic control elements and the gene of interest, and providing new insight into the design rules of RNA based regulation in E. coli, while a range of cellular contexts also demonstrated it to be independent of growth-phase and strain type. Importantly, the extensibility and orthogonality of mARi enables the simultaneous post-transcriptional regulation of multi-gene systems as both single-gene cassettes and poly-cistronic operons. To facilitate adoption, mARi was designed to be directly integrated into the modular BASIC DNA assembly framework. We anticipate that mARi-based genetic control within an extensible DNA assembly framework will facilitate metabolic engineering, layered genetic control, and advanced genetic circuit applications.
AU  - Dwijayanti,A
AU  - Storch,M
AU  - Stan,G-B
AU  - Baldwin,GS
DO  - nar/gkab1301
PY  - 2022///
SN  - 0305-1048
TI  - A modular RNA interference system for multiplexed gene regulation
T2  - Nucleic Acids Research
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkab1301
UR  - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35061908
UR  - https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/50/3/1783/6513569
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/93984
VL  - 50
ER  -
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