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Research

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{Ostrov:2019:10.1126/science.aay0339,
author = {Ostrov, N and Beal, J and Ellis, T and Gordon, DB and Karas, BJ and Lee, HH and Lenaghan, SC and Schloss, JA and Stracquadanio, G and Trefzer, A and Bader, JS and Church, GM and Coelho, CM and Efcavitch, JW and Güell, M and Mitchell, LA and Nielsen, AAK and Peck, B and Smith, AC and Stewart, CN and Tekotte, H},
doi = {10.1126/science.aay0339},
journal = {Science},
pages = {310--312},
title = {Technological challenges and milestones for writing genomes.},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aay0339},
volume = {366},
year = {2019}
}

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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Engineering biology with recombinant DNA, broadly called synthetic biology, has progressed tremendously in the last decade, owing to continued industrialization of DNA synthesis, discovery and development of molecular tools and organisms, and increasingly sophisticated modeling and analytic tools. However, we have yet to understand the full potential of engineering biology because of our inability to write and test whole genomes, which we call synthetic genomics. Substantial improvements are needed to reduce the cost and increase the speed and reliability of genetic tools. Here, we identify emerging technologies and improvements to existing methods that will be needed in four major areas to advance synthetic genomics within the next 10 years: genome design, DNA synthesis, genome editing, and chromosome construction (see table). Similar to other large-scale projects for responsible advancement of innovative technologies, such as the Human Genome Project, an international, cross-disciplinary effort consisting of public and private entities will likely yield maximal return on investment and open new avenues of research and biotechnology.
AU  - Ostrov,N
AU  - Beal,J
AU  - Ellis,T
AU  - Gordon,DB
AU  - Karas,BJ
AU  - Lee,HH
AU  - Lenaghan,SC
AU  - Schloss,JA
AU  - Stracquadanio,G
AU  - Trefzer,A
AU  - Bader,JS
AU  - Church,GM
AU  - Coelho,CM
AU  - Efcavitch,JW
AU  - Güell,M
AU  - Mitchell,LA
AU  - Nielsen,AAK
AU  - Peck,B
AU  - Smith,AC
AU  - Stewart,CN
AU  - Tekotte,H
DO  - 10.1126/science.aay0339
EP  - 312
PY  - 2019///
SN  - 0036-8075
SP  - 310
TI  - Technological challenges and milestones for writing genomes.
T2  - Science
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aay0339
UR  - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31624201
UR  - https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6463/310
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/74262
VL  - 366
ER  -