Compiled by Jim Haseloff at the University of Cambridge.
This site contains details of recent papers and activity in Synthetic Biology, with particular emphasis on: (i) development of standards in biology and DNA parts, (ii) microbial and (iii) plant systems, (iv) research and teaching in the field at the University of Cambridge, (v) hardware for scientific computing and instrumentation, (vi) tools for scientific productivity and collected miscellany.
Technology is driving revolutionary changes in biology. Over the past decade, scientists and engineers have begun to define the path forward in the genomic era. Systems Biology has arisen...
Now that we know the sequences of many genomes, from a wide variety of organisms and even from individuals with unique characteristics, many researchers have turned to making intentional...
The developments within synthetic biology promise to change the world in significant ways. Yet synthetic biology is largely unrecognized within conservation. The purpose of the meeting...
(Re-)constructing and Re-programming Life This conference will provide an in-depth discussion forum among practitioners of the various fields underlying Synthetic Biology. It aims to...
The BioBricks Foundation is pleased to announce The BioBricks Foundation Synthetic Biology 6.0 Conference (SB6.0), which will take place on July 9-11, 2013 at Imperial College, London,...
This course will focus on how the complexity of biological systems, combined with traditional engineering approaches, results in the emergence of new design principles for synthetic...
Tracking, tuning, and terminating microbial physiology using synthetic riboregulators.: "Publication Date: 2010 Sep 7 PMID: 20713708
Authors: Callura, J. M. - Dwyer, D. J. - Isaacs, F. J. - Cantor, C. R. - Collins, J. J.
Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
The development of biomolecular devices that interface with biological systems to reveal new insights and produce novel functions is one of the defining goals of synthetic biology. Our lab previously described a synthetic, riboregulator system that affords for modular, tunable, and tight control of gene expression in vivo. Here we highlight several experimental advantages unique to this RNA-based system, including physiologically relevant protein production, component modularity, leakage minimization, rapid response time, tunable gene expression, and independent regulation of multiple genes. We demonstrate this utility in four sets of in vivo experiments with various microbial systems. Specifically, we show that the synthetic riboregulator is well suited for GFP fusion protein tracking in wild-type cells, tight regulation of toxic protein expression, and sensitive perturbation of stress response networks. We also show that the system can be used for logic-based computing of multiple, orthogonal inputs, resulting in the development of a programmable kill switch for bacteria. This work establishes a broad, easy-to-use synthetic biology platform for microbiology experiments and biotechnology applications.
(Via PNAS.)