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SUMMARY:Cell-Free Synthetic Biology
DTSTART:20160525T171500
DTSTAMP:20260924T045259Z
UID:8dc96fe9684a58cf7fc282de8bbf03a8115988e15208ae677ba8df3d
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Sebastian Maerkl\, Institute of Bioengineering\, EPFL\nI
 NAUGURAL LECTUREAbstract:\nWhile complex dynamic biological networks contr
 ol gene expression in all living organisms\, the forward engineering of co
 mparable synthetic networks remains challenging. The current paradigm of c
 haracterizing synthetic networks in cells results in lengthy design-build-
 test cycles\, minimal data collection\, and poor quantitative characteriza
 tion. Cell-free systems are appealing alternative environments\, but it re
 mained questionable whether biological networks behave similarly in cell-f
 ree systems and in cells.\nWe characterized in a cell-free system the “r
 epressilator\,” a three-node synthetic oscillator. We then engineered no
 vel three\, four\, and five-gene ring architectures\, from characterizatio
 n of circuit components to rapid analysis of complete networks. When imple
 mented in cells\, our novel 3-node networks produced population-wide synch
 ronized oscillations and 95% of 5-node oscillator cells oscillated for up 
 to 72 hours. Oscillation periods in cells matched the cell-free results fo
 r all networks tested. An alternate forward engineering paradigm based on 
 cell-free systems can thus accurately emulate the cellular environment.Pro
 gram:\n- Introduction by  Prof. Demetri Psaltis\, Dean of The School of e
 ngineering (STI)\n- Inaugural Lecture of Sebastian Maerkl: "Cell-Free Synt
 hetic Biology"\nPlease register here: http://go.epfl.ch/maerklBio:\nProf. 
 Maerkl received B.S. degrees in Biology and in Chemistry from Fairleigh-Di
 ckinson University in 2001. He then joined the Biophysics and Biochemistry
  Department at the California Institute of Technology and contributed to t
 he early development of microfluidic technology in the laboratory of Prof.
  Stephen Quake. For his graduate work Prof. Maerkl was awarded the Demetri
 ades-Tsafka-Kokalis prize for the best Caltech PhD thesis in the field of 
 Biotechnology. He was also awarded 1st place at the Innovator’s Challeng
 e\, a competition amongst inventors and entrepreneurs from Stanford Univer
 sity\, UC Berkeley\, and Caltech.\nAfter graduating in 2008 Prof. Maerkl a
 ccepted a tenure track position at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lau
 sanne (EPFL) in the Institute of Bioengineering and the School of Engineer
 ing\, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015. His lab is currentl
 y working on a number of projects at the interface of microengineering\, s
 ystems biology\, synthetic biology\, and molecular diagnostics.
LOCATION:CO2 http://map.epfl.ch/?room=co2
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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