Cell-Free Synthetic Biology
Event details
| Date | 25.05.2016 |
| Hour | 17:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Sebastian Maerkl, Institute of Bioengineering, EPFL |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
INAUGURAL LECTURE
Abstract:
While complex dynamic biological networks control gene expression in all living organisms, the forward engineering of comparable synthetic networks remains challenging. The current paradigm of characterizing synthetic networks in cells results in lengthy design-build-test cycles, minimal data collection, and poor quantitative characterization. Cell-free systems are appealing alternative environments, but it remained questionable whether biological networks behave similarly in cell-free systems and in cells.
We characterized in a cell-free system the “repressilator,” a three-node synthetic oscillator. We then engineered novel three, four, and five-gene ring architectures, from characterization of circuit components to rapid analysis of complete networks. When implemented in cells, our novel 3-node networks produced population-wide synchronized oscillations and 95% of 5-node oscillator cells oscillated for up to 72 hours. Oscillation periods in cells matched the cell-free results for all networks tested. An alternate forward engineering paradigm based on cell-free systems can thus accurately emulate the cellular environment.
Program:
- Introduction by Prof. Demetri Psaltis, Dean of The School of engineering (STI)
- Inaugural Lecture of Sebastian Maerkl: "Cell-Free Synthetic Biology"
Please register here: http://go.epfl.ch/maerkl
Bio:
Prof. Maerkl received B.S. degrees in Biology and in Chemistry from Fairleigh-Dickinson University in 2001. He then joined the Biophysics and Biochemistry Department at the California Institute of Technology and contributed to the early development of microfluidic technology in the laboratory of Prof. Stephen Quake. For his graduate work Prof. Maerkl was awarded the Demetriades-Tsafka-Kokalis prize for the best Caltech PhD thesis in the field of Biotechnology. He was also awarded 1st place at the Innovator’s Challenge, a competition amongst inventors and entrepreneurs from Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and Caltech.
After graduating in 2008 Prof. Maerkl accepted a tenure track position at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in the Institute of Bioengineering and the School of Engineering, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015. His lab is currently working on a number of projects at the interface of microengineering, systems biology, synthetic biology, and molecular diagnostics.
Abstract:
While complex dynamic biological networks control gene expression in all living organisms, the forward engineering of comparable synthetic networks remains challenging. The current paradigm of characterizing synthetic networks in cells results in lengthy design-build-test cycles, minimal data collection, and poor quantitative characterization. Cell-free systems are appealing alternative environments, but it remained questionable whether biological networks behave similarly in cell-free systems and in cells.
We characterized in a cell-free system the “repressilator,” a three-node synthetic oscillator. We then engineered novel three, four, and five-gene ring architectures, from characterization of circuit components to rapid analysis of complete networks. When implemented in cells, our novel 3-node networks produced population-wide synchronized oscillations and 95% of 5-node oscillator cells oscillated for up to 72 hours. Oscillation periods in cells matched the cell-free results for all networks tested. An alternate forward engineering paradigm based on cell-free systems can thus accurately emulate the cellular environment.
Program:
- Introduction by Prof. Demetri Psaltis, Dean of The School of engineering (STI)
- Inaugural Lecture of Sebastian Maerkl: "Cell-Free Synthetic Biology"
Please register here: http://go.epfl.ch/maerkl
Bio:
Prof. Maerkl received B.S. degrees in Biology and in Chemistry from Fairleigh-Dickinson University in 2001. He then joined the Biophysics and Biochemistry Department at the California Institute of Technology and contributed to the early development of microfluidic technology in the laboratory of Prof. Stephen Quake. For his graduate work Prof. Maerkl was awarded the Demetriades-Tsafka-Kokalis prize for the best Caltech PhD thesis in the field of Biotechnology. He was also awarded 1st place at the Innovator’s Challenge, a competition amongst inventors and entrepreneurs from Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and Caltech.
After graduating in 2008 Prof. Maerkl accepted a tenure track position at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in the Institute of Bioengineering and the School of Engineering, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015. His lab is currently working on a number of projects at the interface of microengineering, systems biology, synthetic biology, and molecular diagnostics.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- Sylvie Deschamps