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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{Webb:2022:10.1371/journal.pntd.0010632,
author = {Webb, A and Allan, F and Kelwick, R and Beshah, F and Kinunghi, S and Templeton, MR and Emery, A and Freemont, P},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pntd.0010632},
journal = {PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases},
pages = {1--19},
title = {Specific Nucleic AcId Ligation for the detection of Schistosomes: SNAILS},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010632},
volume = {16},
year = {2022}
}

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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia or snail fever, is a debilitating neglected tropical disease (NTD), caused by parasitic trematode flatworms of the genus Schistosoma, that has an annual mortality rate of 280,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa alone. Schistosomiasis is transmitted via contact with water bodies that are home to the intermediate host snail which shed the infective cercariae into the water. Schistosome lifecycles are complex, and while not all schistosome species cause human disease, endemic regions also typically feature animal infecting schistosomes that can have broader economic and/or food security implications. Therefore, the development of species-specific Schistosoma detection technologies may help to inform evidence-based local environmental, food security and health systems policy making. Crucially, schistosomiasis disproportionally affects low- and middle-income (LMIC) countries and for that reason, environmental screening of water bodies for schistosomes may aid with the targeting of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions and preventive chemotherapy to regions at highest risk of schistosomiasis transmission, and to monitor the effectiveness of such interventions at reducing the risk over time. To this end, we developed a DNA-based biosensor termed Specific Nucleic AcId Ligation for the detection of Schistosomes or ‘SNAILS’. Here we show that ‘SNAILS’ enables species-specific detection from genomic DNA (gDNA) samples that were collected from the field in endemic areas.
AU  - Webb,A
AU  - Allan,F
AU  - Kelwick,R
AU  - Beshah,F
AU  - Kinunghi,S
AU  - Templeton,MR
AU  - Emery,A
AU  - Freemont,P
DO  - 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010632
EP  - 19
PY  - 2022///
SN  - 1935-2727
SP  - 1
TI  - Specific Nucleic AcId Ligation for the detection of Schistosomes: SNAILS
T2  - PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010632
UR  - https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0010632
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/98151
VL  - 16
ER  -