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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{Gowers:2020:10.1038/s41467-020-14708-z,
author = {Gowers, G and Chee, S and Bell, D and Suckling, L and Kern, M and Tew, D and McClymont, D and Ellis, T},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-020-14708-z},
journal = {Nature Communications},
title = {Improved betulinic acid biosynthesis using synthetic yeast chromosome recombination and semi-automated rapid LC-MS screening},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14708-z},
volume = {11},
year = {2020}
}

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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Synthetic biology, genome engineering and directed evolution offer innumerable tools to expedite engineering of strains for optimising biosynthetic pathways. One of the most radical is SCRaMbLE, a system of inducible in vivo deletion and rearrangement of synthetic yeast chromosomes, diversifying the genotype of millions of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells in hours. SCRaMbLE can yield strains with improved biosynthetic phenotypes but is limited by screening capabilities. To address this bottleneck, we combine automated sample preparation, an ultra-fast 84-second LC-MS method, and barcoded nanopore sequencing to rapidly isolate and characterise the best performing strains. Here, we use SCRaMbLE to optimise yeast strains engineered to produce the triterpenoid betulinic acid. Our semi-automated workflow screens 1,000 colonies, identifying and sequencing 12 strains with between 2- to 7-fold improvement in betulinic acid titre. The broad applicability of this workflow to rapidly isolate improved strains from a variant library makes this a valuable tool for biotechnology.
AU  - Gowers,G
AU  - Chee,S
AU  - Bell,D
AU  - Suckling,L
AU  - Kern,M
AU  - Tew,D
AU  - McClymont,D
AU  - Ellis,T
DO  - 10.1038/s41467-020-14708-z
PY  - 2020///
SN  - 2041-1723
TI  - Improved betulinic acid biosynthesis using synthetic yeast chromosome recombination and semi-automated rapid LC-MS screening
T2  - Nature Communications
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14708-z
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/77035
VL  - 11
ER  -