15 NSFBIO: Rewritable biocomputers in mammalian cells

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

A major objective in synthetic biology is to achieve the ability to predictably design and construct genetic circuits to control cellular functions. Although recent years have seen numerous advances towards this goal, the sophistication, performance and scale of mammalian genetic circuits trail their microbial counterparts. The overarching goal of this proposal is to develop a suite of versatile gene expression tools and to use these tools to construct a genetic biocomputation platform with rewritable memory capability in mammalian cells. The memory feature is crucial to allow for permanent responses to transient or conditional signals, and has direct applications in protein production and tissue-specific gene expression. Moreover, genetic circuits with memory capabilities allow recordings of past events in complex environments where continuous monitoring is not feasible. For instance, E. coli engineered with a memory circuit have been placed inside a mouse gut to sense and remember drug exposure.