This document introduces several researchers and summarizes their work. It provides brief biographies of Omar Akbari, Nichole Daringer, Rachel Dudek, Kei Fujiwara, Amar Ghodasara, George Khoury, and Joshua Leonard. It summarizes each of their current positions, education, non-scientific interests, and research focus. The research focuses include developing genetic control technologies for reducing mosquito-borne diseases, engineering cell-based biosensors, developing biosensor platforms in mammalian cells, constructing replicative artificial cells, controlling gene expression in prokaryotes, protein engineering and designing inhibitors, and integrating synthetic biology with systems biology.
A look at future directions for biology. Personalized genomics is a key step in moving towards individualized medicine and preventative interventions. The traditional trial and error approach of molecular biology is being replaced by the direct design of synthetic biology. Synthetically developed energy solutions could have a substantial impact on natural resource demand.
SYNTHETIC CELLS
An artificial cell or minimal cell or synthetic cell is an engineered particle that mimics one or many functions of a biological cell.
Artificial cells are biological or polymeric membranes which enclose biologically active materials.
A "living" artificial cell has been defined as a completely synthetically made cell that can capture energy, maintain ion gradients, contain macromolecules as well as store information and have the ability to mutate.
DEFINITION
EXAMPLE
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
Synthetic biology is a multidisciplinary area of research that seeks to create new biological parts, devices, and systems, or to redesign systems that are already found in nature.
Due to more powerful genetic engineering capabilities and decreased DNA synthesis and sequencing costs, the field of synthetic biology is rapidly growing
HISTORY
BOTTOM-UP APPROACH FOR CONSTRUCTING SYNTHETIC CELLS
A bottom-up approach is commonly used to design and construct genetic circuits by piecing together functional modules that are capable of reprogramming cells with novel behavior.
CELL ENCAPSULATION METHOD
Cell microencapsulation technology involves immobilization of the cells within a polymeric semi-permeable membrane that permits the bidirectional diffusion of molecules such as the influx of oxygen, nutrients, growth factors etc. essential for cell metabolism and the outward diffusion of waste products and therapeutic proteins.
TECHNIQUES USED FOR THE PREPARATION OF EMULSION
1- high pressure homogenization
2- microfluidization
3- drop method
4- emulsion method
MEMBRANES OF SYNTHETIC CELLS
THE MINIMAL CELL
A minimal cell is one whose genome only encodes the minimal set of genes necessary for the cell to survive.
THE SYNTHETIC BLOOD CELLS
Synthetic red blood cells mimic natural ones, and have new abilities
APPLICATIONS OF SYNTHETIC CELLS
1- DRUG RELEASE AND DELIEVERY
2- GENE THERAPY
3- ENZYME THERAPY
4- HEMOPERFUSION
5- OTHER APPLICATIONS
FUTURE OF SYNTHETIC CELLS AND BIOLOGY
ACHIEVEMENTS
HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES
ETHICS AND CONTROVERSIES
REFERENCES
THANK YOU
A look at future directions for biology. Personalized genomics is a key step in moving towards individualized medicine and preventative interventions. The traditional trial and error approach of molecular biology is being replaced by the direct design of synthetic biology. Synthetically developed energy solutions could have a substantial impact on natural resource demand.
SYNTHETIC CELLS
An artificial cell or minimal cell or synthetic cell is an engineered particle that mimics one or many functions of a biological cell.
Artificial cells are biological or polymeric membranes which enclose biologically active materials.
A "living" artificial cell has been defined as a completely synthetically made cell that can capture energy, maintain ion gradients, contain macromolecules as well as store information and have the ability to mutate.
DEFINITION
EXAMPLE
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
Synthetic biology is a multidisciplinary area of research that seeks to create new biological parts, devices, and systems, or to redesign systems that are already found in nature.
Due to more powerful genetic engineering capabilities and decreased DNA synthesis and sequencing costs, the field of synthetic biology is rapidly growing
HISTORY
BOTTOM-UP APPROACH FOR CONSTRUCTING SYNTHETIC CELLS
A bottom-up approach is commonly used to design and construct genetic circuits by piecing together functional modules that are capable of reprogramming cells with novel behavior.
CELL ENCAPSULATION METHOD
Cell microencapsulation technology involves immobilization of the cells within a polymeric semi-permeable membrane that permits the bidirectional diffusion of molecules such as the influx of oxygen, nutrients, growth factors etc. essential for cell metabolism and the outward diffusion of waste products and therapeutic proteins.
TECHNIQUES USED FOR THE PREPARATION OF EMULSION
1- high pressure homogenization
2- microfluidization
3- drop method
4- emulsion method
MEMBRANES OF SYNTHETIC CELLS
THE MINIMAL CELL
A minimal cell is one whose genome only encodes the minimal set of genes necessary for the cell to survive.
THE SYNTHETIC BLOOD CELLS
Synthetic red blood cells mimic natural ones, and have new abilities
APPLICATIONS OF SYNTHETIC CELLS
1- DRUG RELEASE AND DELIEVERY
2- GENE THERAPY
3- ENZYME THERAPY
4- HEMOPERFUSION
5- OTHER APPLICATIONS
FUTURE OF SYNTHETIC CELLS AND BIOLOGY
ACHIEVEMENTS
HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES
ETHICS AND CONTROVERSIES
REFERENCES
THANK YOU
Synthetic biology is the designing of new biological systems or the modification of the existing ones that do not occur naturally. Synthetic or artificial cells organisms with minimal genomes have uses in molecular medicine, vaccines, environmental chemistry and bio-sensors. Creation of synthetic cells involve in-vitro synthesis of unitary DNA fragments of one-kilo base pairs (1kb). These unitary fragments are ligated to make ten kilo base pair (10kb) fragments, followed by tethering 10 fragments to form one hundred kilo base pair (100kb) fragments. Each step involves transformation and sequencing procedures in E. coli host cells. Ultimately, eleven of these hundred kilo base pair fragments are joined to create a “Synthetic Genome” which is maintained in yeast cells, as maximum limit of DNA transplant acceptance of E. coli is 100kb. By this approach, synthetic chromosomes can be maintained, manipulated and transplanted to an acceptor organism to create a synthetic cell. Applications of the technology include semi-synthetic approach of Artemisinic acid, which can be used to chemically synthesize anti-malarial drug Atremisinin and its therapeutically important derivatives. Second application of synthetic biology is production of meningitis vaccine against poorly immunogenic Neisseria meningitidis serogroup-B, by preparing synthetic vesicles. Third application includes disease mechanism identification of a rare-primary immunodeficiency disease “Agamaglobinemia” using reconstruction of mutant B-cell receptor components in synthetic membranes to validate a point mutation. Fourth application include environmental fixation of carbon di-oxide to produce methane by using minimal genome containing synthetic cells of Metahnococcous sp. Fifth application is production of novel biosensors which can be toggled ON and OFF using “Visible Light” as modulator. These “Gene switches” are also able to operate in mammalian cells. With potential applications and wide research domains, synthetic biology is also under ethical and religious criticism. Future of this new dimension of biological science requires scrutiny from regulatory authorities, and monetary input from funding agencies.
Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary branch of biology and engineering. The subject combines disciplines from within these domains, such as biotechnology, genetic engineering, molecular biology, molecular engineering, systems biology, biophysics, electrical engineering, computer engineering, control engineering and evolutionary biology. Synthetic biology applies these disciplines to build artificial biological systems for research, engineering, and medical applications
Synthetic Biology: Bringing Engineering Back Into Genetic EngineeringSachin Rawat
Genetic Engineering lacks a few elements of Engineering. Here is what those are and how Synthetic Biology (or Genetic Engineering v2.0) would account for those.
OBC | Synthetic biology announcing the coming technological revolutionOut of The Box Seminar
Roman Jerala, National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Synthetic biology announcing the coming technological revolution
http://obc2012.outofthebox.si/
Introduction to Synthetic Genome
SYNTHETIC GENOMICS Study of Invitro chemical synthesis of genetic material i.e., DNA in the form of oligonucleotides, genes, or genomes with Computational techniques for its design. SYNTHETIC GENOME Artificially synthesised genome (invitro)
Engineering Research Publication
Best International Journals, High Impact Journals,
International Journal of Engineering & Technical Research
ISSN : 2321-0869 (O) 2454-4698 (P)
www.erpublication.org
Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI) is pleased to announce the Third Annual FAST: Functional Analysis and Screening Technologies Congress. Now in its third year, the FAST Congress brings you the latest technologies and research in cellular screening.
The Third Annual Phenotypic Drug Discovery meeting will return with new updates and case studies in phenotypic screening, high-content analysis, physiologically-relevant cellular models, chemical genomics and chemical proteomics. The rapidly evolving area of 3D cellular models will be addressed by two back-to-back meetings, with the Inaugural 3D Cell Culture: Organoid, Spheroid, and Organ-on-a-Chip Models meeting focusing on the new predictive cellular models for drug discovery and toxicity assessment. It will review the use of primary and stem cells, complex co-culture cell models, tumor spheroid models, novel organ-on-a-chip models for efficacy and safety screening, functional analysis, and compound profiling. The Third Annual Screening and Functional Analysis of 3D Models meeting will follow with case studies of phenotypic and high-content screening of complex 3D cellular systems for compound and target selection.
The 2014 Congress attracted more than 250 senior delegates, representing over 160 companies from 20 countries. With half of the attendees from big pharma and biotech and a third from academia and government, the FAST Congress offers exclusive networking opportunities with diverse international attendance. Please join our focused Screening event and learn from 60+ scientific presentations, an assortment of educational courses, 20+ exhibitors and your fellow expert delegates. We look forward to seeing you at the event.
Synthetic biology is the designing of new biological systems or the modification of the existing ones that do not occur naturally. Synthetic or artificial cells organisms with minimal genomes have uses in molecular medicine, vaccines, environmental chemistry and bio-sensors. Creation of synthetic cells involve in-vitro synthesis of unitary DNA fragments of one-kilo base pairs (1kb). These unitary fragments are ligated to make ten kilo base pair (10kb) fragments, followed by tethering 10 fragments to form one hundred kilo base pair (100kb) fragments. Each step involves transformation and sequencing procedures in E. coli host cells. Ultimately, eleven of these hundred kilo base pair fragments are joined to create a “Synthetic Genome” which is maintained in yeast cells, as maximum limit of DNA transplant acceptance of E. coli is 100kb. By this approach, synthetic chromosomes can be maintained, manipulated and transplanted to an acceptor organism to create a synthetic cell. Applications of the technology include semi-synthetic approach of Artemisinic acid, which can be used to chemically synthesize anti-malarial drug Atremisinin and its therapeutically important derivatives. Second application of synthetic biology is production of meningitis vaccine against poorly immunogenic Neisseria meningitidis serogroup-B, by preparing synthetic vesicles. Third application includes disease mechanism identification of a rare-primary immunodeficiency disease “Agamaglobinemia” using reconstruction of mutant B-cell receptor components in synthetic membranes to validate a point mutation. Fourth application include environmental fixation of carbon di-oxide to produce methane by using minimal genome containing synthetic cells of Metahnococcous sp. Fifth application is production of novel biosensors which can be toggled ON and OFF using “Visible Light” as modulator. These “Gene switches” are also able to operate in mammalian cells. With potential applications and wide research domains, synthetic biology is also under ethical and religious criticism. Future of this new dimension of biological science requires scrutiny from regulatory authorities, and monetary input from funding agencies.
Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary branch of biology and engineering. The subject combines disciplines from within these domains, such as biotechnology, genetic engineering, molecular biology, molecular engineering, systems biology, biophysics, electrical engineering, computer engineering, control engineering and evolutionary biology. Synthetic biology applies these disciplines to build artificial biological systems for research, engineering, and medical applications
Synthetic Biology: Bringing Engineering Back Into Genetic EngineeringSachin Rawat
Genetic Engineering lacks a few elements of Engineering. Here is what those are and how Synthetic Biology (or Genetic Engineering v2.0) would account for those.
OBC | Synthetic biology announcing the coming technological revolutionOut of The Box Seminar
Roman Jerala, National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Synthetic biology announcing the coming technological revolution
http://obc2012.outofthebox.si/
Introduction to Synthetic Genome
SYNTHETIC GENOMICS Study of Invitro chemical synthesis of genetic material i.e., DNA in the form of oligonucleotides, genes, or genomes with Computational techniques for its design. SYNTHETIC GENOME Artificially synthesised genome (invitro)
Engineering Research Publication
Best International Journals, High Impact Journals,
International Journal of Engineering & Technical Research
ISSN : 2321-0869 (O) 2454-4698 (P)
www.erpublication.org
Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI) is pleased to announce the Third Annual FAST: Functional Analysis and Screening Technologies Congress. Now in its third year, the FAST Congress brings you the latest technologies and research in cellular screening.
The Third Annual Phenotypic Drug Discovery meeting will return with new updates and case studies in phenotypic screening, high-content analysis, physiologically-relevant cellular models, chemical genomics and chemical proteomics. The rapidly evolving area of 3D cellular models will be addressed by two back-to-back meetings, with the Inaugural 3D Cell Culture: Organoid, Spheroid, and Organ-on-a-Chip Models meeting focusing on the new predictive cellular models for drug discovery and toxicity assessment. It will review the use of primary and stem cells, complex co-culture cell models, tumor spheroid models, novel organ-on-a-chip models for efficacy and safety screening, functional analysis, and compound profiling. The Third Annual Screening and Functional Analysis of 3D Models meeting will follow with case studies of phenotypic and high-content screening of complex 3D cellular systems for compound and target selection.
The 2014 Congress attracted more than 250 senior delegates, representing over 160 companies from 20 countries. With half of the attendees from big pharma and biotech and a third from academia and government, the FAST Congress offers exclusive networking opportunities with diverse international attendance. Please join our focused Screening event and learn from 60+ scientific presentations, an assortment of educational courses, 20+ exhibitors and your fellow expert delegates. We look forward to seeing you at the event.
Accurate information is the key to success, but in today’s fast-paced world things change quickly, and with more information in more places, it’s hard to keep up with the correct information. Therefore it’s becoming crucial to have a strategy on how to deal with the mountain of data.
In this free whitepaper, you will learn how to enhance performance by creating an information strategy.
How to get structure and control in your CRM systemPer Löfgren
Bisnode presentation of our pan-European B2B database and Data Quality services.
How to get structure and control in your CRM system if you operate cross-border.
How to get your sales people to actually use your CRM
Getting it Right: What Really Matters to Students In Social Media Communities...Corie Martin, Ed.D.
The use of social media in higher education recruitment is a common practice, often used to supplement more traditional print and email-based outreach methods. Are institutions doing all they can to strategically reach students during the yield period? Are we using the right media and messaging? In 2015, Dr. Corie Martin completed a nationwide research study on admissions and marketing recruitment outreach activities and observed thousands of student interactions within university social media communities. The results of the study showed what was really important to students and suggested how Higher Ed leadership might prepare for the next generation of prospective students.
Join us in Boston this coming Fall to attend Cambridge Healthtech Institute's (CHI) 2nd Annual FAST: Functional Analysis & Screening Technologies Congress on November 17-19, 2014 and meet with a community of 250+ biologists, screening managers, assay developers, engineers and pharmacologists dedicated to improving in vitro cell models and phenotypic screening to advance drug discovery and development at 6 conferences: Phenotypic Drug Discovery (Part I & II), Engineering Functional 3D Models, Screening and Functional Analysis of 3D Models, Organotypic Culture Models for Toxicology and Physiologically-Relevant Cellular Tumor Models for Drug Discovery. Delegates have the opportunity to share insights in interactive panel discussions and connect during networking breaks. View innovative technologies and scientific research revolutionizing early-stage drug discovery in the exhibit/poster hall.
The recent trends in Life Sciences have been experiencing rapid
transformation in recent years due to development of technology by
considering available ancient techniques. For this change, most
importunately different scientist was discovered scientific
technologies, methods, concepts, and microorganisms. All this
research helped to develop society in all aspects including medicinal
plants research. Different plants are widely known for their medicinal
properties, food properties, industrial important products formation
properties etc., Due to our improved understanding and different
methodology, even our meanings of familiar words, such as antibiotic
and species appear to be shifting. This book is coordinated towards
students, researchers, scientists and starting alumni understudies in
medicinal plants and Botany. However, the book is fully focused on
different plants and their applications in different fields. We would like
to offer our thanks to all authors, parents, teachers, and friends.
This paper explores the complex field of synthetic biology, including its historical roots, guiding ideas, contemporary uses, and moral dilemmas raised by its groundbreaking discoveries.
Pegs Europe 2015 Protein & Antibody Engineering SummitNicole Proulx
PEGS Europe is the largest European event covering all aspects of protein and antibody engineering. With three consecutive years of 35% growth in attendance, and another year of expanded program coverage, this year’s event will feature:
700 attendees
175 technical presentations
125 scientific posters
Dedicated networking opportunities
Exclusive exhibit & poster viewing hours
Interactive roundtable, breakout & panel discussions
International Conference on Integrative Biology Summit, will be organized around the theme "Accelerating Computational Approaches to Biological Research."
2. Education. BSE Chemical Engineering, University of
Michigan (2008).
Nonscientific Interests. Singing, playing the guitar, running,
baking, and watching Food Network.
My scientific interests largely comprise the engineering
of mammalian cells to make “smart” cell therapeutics and
diagnostics. An important bottleneck in this long-term vision,
and the focus of my doctoral research and this paper, is the
development of biosensor modalities that would enable these
mammalian smart cell devices to sense extracellular cues in
their environment and respond appropriately. We have there-
fore developed a biosensor platform technology that operates
on the synthetic biology principles of orthogonality and
modularity. This platform technology is not only a new tool in
the mammalian synthetic biology biosensor toolbox but also a
probe to elucidate the design criteria and constraints in the
design space of extracellular biosensing in mammalian cells and
to improve our ability to engineer in this space. (Read Dudek’s
article; DOI: 10.1021/sb400128g).
■ KEI FUJIWARA
Kei Fujiwara
Current Position. Assistant professor at Department of
Biosciences and Informatics, Keio University.
Education. Postdoctoral fellow: Department Bioengineering
and Robotics, School of Engineering, Tohoku University.
Advisor: Dr. Shin-ichiro M. Nomura. PhD: Department of
Medical Genome Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier
Sciences, the University of Tokyo. Advisor: Dr. Hideki Taguchi.
BS and MS: Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School of
Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo. Advisor:
Dr. Makoto Nishiyama.
Nonscientific Interests. Playing the violin (over 25 years of
experience). I love to play Fritz Kreisler’s pieces.
My major research interest is finding a way to construct
biomimetic artificial cells that replicate themselves following
their genetic information as living cells do. Recent progress in
artificial cell engineering and bottom-up synthetic biology has
revealed that artificial cells with reconstituted biological systems
behave just as those in living cells. However, it is still challenging
to construct replicative artificial cells using mixtures of bio-
molecules. To address this challenge, we are trying to construct
mimics of living cells made from biomolecules, which would pave
a path to understanding the inherent differences between life and
materials. We have developed methods for reconstitution of
intracellular environments in artificial cells, especially focusing on
concentrations of macromolecules inside living cells (Read
Fujiwara’s article; DOI: 10.1021/sb4001917).
■ AMAR GHODASARA
Amar Ghodasara
Current Position. PhD Candidate, Department of Biological
Engineering, MIT. Advisor: Christopher A. Voigt.
Education. BS in Biomedical Engineering at the University of
California, Davis.
Nonscientific Interests. I enjoy cooking, playing basketball,
outdoor activities, and traveling. I always have multiple projects
going on in my apartment which can vary from making home-
made yogurt to building electronic gadgets.
I am interested in developing tools to enable the engineering of
complex biological systems. Mechanistic insights into diseases,
the deciphering of the human and plant microbiome, and the
whole-genome sequencing of diverse organisms are paving the
way and providing the fuel for synthetic biology applications.
My research focuses on precisely controlling gene expression at
the post-transcriptional level in prokaryotes using engineered
small RNAs that can downregulate and buffer fluctuations gene
expression. Precise control of gene expression in an engineered
system can improve functionality, predictability, and reduce
failure. Ultimately, my goal is to apply this toolkit to complex
circuits and metabolic pathways to engineer plant microbes to
improve agriculture and to produce high value molecules,
including therapeutics. (Read Ghodasara’s article; DOI:
10.1021/sb5002856).
■ GEORGE A. KHOURY
George A. Khoury
Current Position. Wallace Memorial Fellow in Engineering
and Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Chemical and Biological
Engineering, Princeton University. Advisor: Prof. Christodoulos
A. Floudas.
ACS Synthetic Biology Introducing Our Authors
dx.doi.org/10.1021/sb5003604 | ACS Synth. Biol. 2014, 3, 844−847845
3. Education. MA (2012) in Chemical and Biological Engineer-
ing, Princeton University. Advisor: Prof. Christodoulos A.
Floudas; BS (2009) and MS (2010) in Chemical Engineering,
Penn State University. Advisor: Prof. Costas D. Maranas.
Nonscientific Interests. My leadership roles have strongly
influenced my nonscientific interests by being elected to and
serving on the Priorities Committee and as President of the
Graduate Engineering Council at Princeton and as President of
the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments at Penn
State. In these roles, I have represented students to a variety of
administrative bodies, raised funds, and organized events. At
Penn State, I interfaced with the University Registrar and a
committee of developers, administrators, and students to
advocate for and launch real-time course scheduling. Addition-
ally, I have played electric guitar for 15 years and have opened for
several well-known national artists.
Through my Ph.D. research, several major advances and tools
have been introduced for protein engineering, design, simu-
lations, and folding with modified and natural amino acids
combining and applying principles from optimization, thermo-
dynamics, and quantum chemistry. I have applied the tools I
developed to design new lead compounds; one that physically
blocks a critical step in HIV fusion and another that inhibits
Complement activation. My research has led to the creation of 6
web interfaces that have been utilized over 10 000 times by both
academic and industrial researchers at Fortune 500 companies.
In this work, Force field_NCAA enables the atomistic modeling,
simulation, and design of protein-based compounds containing
147 unnatural amino acids. The parameters accurately reproduce
the quantum mechanically derived electrostatic potential and are
capable of distinguishing between active and inactive analogs of
the complement inhibitor compstatin. (Read Khoury’s article;
DOI: 10.1021/sb400168u).
■ JOSHUA LEONARD
Jim Prisching
Current Position. Assistant Professor of Chemical and Bio-
logical Engineering, Northwestern University.
Education. Postdoctoral fellow, National Cancer Institute
(NIH), advisor: David M. Segal; PhD, University of California
Berkeley, Chemical Engineering. Advisor: David V. Schaffer. BS,
Stanford University, Chemical Engineering.
Nonscientific Interests. Edible chemistry, amateur poly-
glottery, feats of endurance, and challenging fiction.
My group seeks to enable the emerging paradigm of design-
driven medicine by integrating synthetic biology with systems
biology to address pressing challenges in medicine and
biotechnology. This manuscript describes an important advance
in these efforts. In general, while our field has made substantial
advances in engineering custom mammalian cell functions
using sensors and circuits that utilize and modulate intracellular
information, to date, our ability to couple engineered cells to
external physiological systems is more limited. To help meet this
need, the MESA platform we describe here enables one to
engineer novel cell-surface receptors that sense exclusively
extracellular species and relay the information that sensing has
occurred to the nucleus, without relying upon any native
receptors or signal transduction pathways. This self-contained,
modular, and orthogonal technology will enable the construction
of new cell-based devices that robustly interface with human
physiology. (Read Leonard’s article; DOI: 10.1021/sb400128g).
■ JOHN M. MARSHALL
Lujan Decima
Current Position. Assistant Professor, University of California,
Berkeley (Division of Biostatistics, School of Public Health).
Education. Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Los
Angeles (Society and Genetics, Advisor: Charles Taylor),
California Institute of Technology (Biology and Biological
Engineering, Advisor: Bruce Hay), Imperial College London
(Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Advisor: Azra Ghani). MS,
PhD (Biomathematics), University of California, Los Angeles,
Advisor: Charles Taylor. BSc (Biological Sciences), BTech Hons
(Optoelectronics), University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Nonscientific Interests. I enjoy discovering new music and
cultures while conducting epidemiological field work. My co-
workers are my DJ managers. I have a radio show on Berkeley’s
KALX 90.7 FM.
I enjoy the synergy of interdisciplinary collaboration and had a
very productive time as a mathematician in Prof. Bruce Hay’s
molecular biology lab at Caltech. This paper documents a novel
approach to engineering a self-ish genetic element called Medea
using a toxin-antidote combination that leads to the element
being preferentially inherited among offspring. I am interested
in the population-level implications of these systems, and in
this paper, the potential of Medea to spread and induce a
population crash if linked to a gene inducing diapause-dependent
female lethality. Together with members of the Hay lab, we have
developed a series of systems for spreading genes into popula-
tions with exciting applications such as the potential to reduce
and possibly eliminate devastating mosquito-borne diseases such
as malaria and dengue fever on a wide scale. (Read Marshall’s
article; DOI: 10.1021/sb300079h).
ACS Synthetic Biology Introducing Our Authors
dx.doi.org/10.1021/sb5003604 | ACS Synth. Biol. 2014, 3, 844−847846
4. ■ TUSHAR PATEL
Tushar Patel
Current Position. Scientist at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company,
Devens, MA.
Education. PhD (2014), MS (2011) in Chemical Engineering,
Columbia University. Advisor: Dr. Scott Banta; BS (2009) in
Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University.
Nonscientific Interests. I enjoy sports, cycling, and am an avid
disc golfer.
My doctoral research was focused on the development
and characterization of heterogeneous biocatalysts via enzyme
immobilization. One such biocatalyst was a transport-limited
whole-cell biocatalyst generated by recombinantly expressing
carbonic anhydrase within the periplasm of E. coli cells. Following
the initial characterization, we sought to employ synthetic
biology tools to enhance this basic design. In this paper, we
demonstrate an enhancement to the apparent activity of these
biocatalysts. To do so, an α-helical protein, which oligomerizes
into pentameric bundles that form nonspecific pores in the outer
membrane of E. coli cells was recombinantly coexpressed with the
periplasmic carbonic anhydrase. This modification to the cells
enhanced the permeability of the outer membrane, which was
quantified using principles of porous catalysis. This strategy
demonstrated the ability to modify a heterogeneous bio-
catalyst in a modular fashion. (Read Patel’s article; DOI:
10.1021/sb400202s).
■ KELLY SCHWARZ
Kelly Schwarz
Current Position. PhD Candidate, Chemical and Biological
Engineering Department, Northwestern University. Advisor: Dr.
Joshua Leonard.
Education. BS, Johns Hopkins University, Chemical and
Biomolecular Engineering.
Nonscientific Interests. Playing and watching sports, running,
baking.
My research focuses on developing a technology that enables
cells to sense and respond to their environment specifically
through their interaction with extracellular cues. To accomplish
this goal, we developed a synthetic protein receptor system for
mammalian cells that allows for transduction of extracellular
signals, such as an interaction with a protein, into intracellular
eventsa change in cell state or gene expression, for example. I
am specifically interested in using this platform as a method for
modulating the immune system for the treatment of diseases
such as cancer; however, what is unique and exciting about our
technology is that the system is composed of interchangeable
parts, which can be readily adapted for other applications. (Read
Schwarz’s article; DOI: 10.1021/sb400128g).
■ BRYNNE STANTON
Brynne Stanton
Current Position. Biological Engineer at Ginkgo BioWorks.
Education. Postdoctoral fellow at University of California, San
Francisco and MIT. Advisor: Dr. Christopher Voigt; PhD,
University of Wisconsin−Madison. Advisor: Dr. Christina Hull;
BS, University of Oregon. Advisor: Dr. Diane Hawley.
Nonscientific Interests. Voracious reader, dog enthusiast,
runner, and culinary experimentalist. I have a double major in
French, and apart from living in France for one year, this skill is
massively underutilized.
I’m particularly proud of this work because it represents a
significant advancement of not only the number of transcription
factors that can be used to control expression in mammalian cells
but also because we are contributing an additional mammalian
sensor that is both robust and reliable. Based on my experiences
in industry thus far, it has become clear that these kinds of sensors
and switches will be useful in engineering a variety of organisms
for diverse applications. (Read Stanton’s article; DOI: 10.1021/
sb5002856).
ACS Synthetic Biology Introducing Our Authors
dx.doi.org/10.1021/sb5003604 | ACS Synth. Biol. 2014, 3, 844−847847