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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{Pothoulakis:2014:10.1021/sb400089c,
author = {Pothoulakis, G and Ceroni, F and Reeve, B and Ellis, T},
doi = {10.1021/sb400089c},
journal = {ACS Synthetic Biology},
pages = {182--187},
title = {The spinach RNA aptamer as a characterization tool for synthetic biology},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/sb400089c},
volume = {3},
year = {2014}
}

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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Characterization of genetic control elements is essential for the predictable engineering of synthetic biology systems. The current standard for in vivo characterization of control elements is through the use of fluorescent reporter proteins such as green fluorescent protein (GFP). Gene expression, however, involves not only protein production but also the production of mRNA. Here, we present the use of the Spinach aptamer sequence, an RNA mimic of GFP, as a tool to characterize mRNA expression in Escherichia coli. We show how the aptamer can be incorporated into gene expression cassettes and how co-expressing it with a red fluorescent protein (mRFP1) allows, for the first time, simultaneous measurement of mRNA and protein levels from engineered constructs. Using flow cytometry, we apply this tool here to evaluate ribosome binding site sequences and promoters and use it to highlight the differences in the temporal behavior of transcription and translation.
AU  - Pothoulakis,G
AU  - Ceroni,F
AU  - Reeve,B
AU  - Ellis,T
DO  - 10.1021/sb400089c
EP  - 187
PY  - 2014///
SN  - 2161-5063
SP  - 182
TI  - The spinach RNA aptamer as a characterization tool for synthetic biology
T2  - ACS Synthetic Biology
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/sb400089c
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/31368
VL  - 3
ER  -