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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{Blount:2018:10.1038/s41467-018-03143-w,
author = {Blount, B and Gowers, G and Ho, JCH and Ledesma-Amaro, R and Jovicevic, D and McKiernan, R and Xie, ZX and Li, BZ and Yuan, YJ and Ellis, T},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-03143-w},
journal = {Nature Communications},
title = {Rapid host strain improvement by in vivo rearrangement of a synthetic yeast chromosome},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03143-w},
volume = {9},
year = {2018}
}

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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Synthetic biology tools, such as modular parts and combinatorial DNA assembly, are routinely used to optimise the productivity of heterologous metabolic pathways for biosynthesis or substrate utilisation, yet, it is well established that host strain background is just as important for determining productivity. Here we report that in vivo combinatorial genomic rearrangement of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast with a synthetic chromosome V can rapidly generate new, improved host strains with genetic backgrounds favourable to diverse heterologous pathways, including those for violacein and penicillin biosynthesis and for xylose utilisation. We show how the modular rearrangement of synthetic chromosomes by SCRaMbLE can be easily determined using long-read nanopore sequencing and we explore experimental conditions that optimise diversification and screening. This new synthetic genome approach to metabolic engineering provides productivity improvements in a fast, simple and accessible way, making it a valuable addition to existing strain improvement techniques.
AU  - Blount,B
AU  - Gowers,G
AU  - Ho,JCH
AU  - Ledesma-Amaro,R
AU  - Jovicevic,D
AU  - McKiernan,R
AU  - Xie,ZX
AU  - Li,BZ
AU  - Yuan,YJ
AU  - Ellis,T
DO  - 10.1038/s41467-018-03143-w
PY  - 2018///
SN  - 2041-1723
TI  - Rapid host strain improvement by in vivo rearrangement of a synthetic yeast chromosome
T2  - Nature Communications
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03143-w
UR  - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03143-w
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/56653
VL  - 9
ER  -