Bioreactor capability for the Plant and Microbe DNA Foundry

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Synthetic biology is the application of engineering paradigms to biological systems. Researchers are using this paradigm to design, build and test biological 'circuits' which can contain functionality taken from multiple genes or systems.Using this methodology we are able to optimise systems for the production of bioactives - chemicals of high value, synthesised in living cells, that can be made more cost-effectively or in a more environmentally friendly fashion than with normal chemical engineering approaches.One of the biggest challenges is when we need to test multiple aspects of a system. For instance a promoter, a unit of DNA which turns genes on or off, may work well in the root of a plant, but not well in the leaf. If we wanted to make systematic modifications to a promoter so that it can be used in a predictable fashion, we may wish to make, or synthesise, many versions of it. The high-throughput synthetic biology laboratories at the Earlham Institute are designed to tackle this problem using automation, so that we can complete this task more quickly and more cost-effectively than if we were doing the process manually.However, after we have made all these versions of a promoter, we will need to test its activity by taking measurements in a living system. The challenge is how we can do this in an automated and high-throughput manner. Automated micro-bioreactors are small scale growth chambers for growing cells, and taking measurements of those cells as they grow. They can control the growing environment, by raising or reducing oxygen or carbon dioxide, they can control the nutrients in the growth chambers, and they can measure aspects of the cells as they grow - including how much oxygen they are using, how fast they grow, but critically they can also take measurements of fluorescence.Sometimes the best way to study the performance of a small part of a cells activity is to 'tag' it with a fluorescent marker. Commonly this is GFP or 'green fluorescent protein'. This is a non-toxic way of marking the element of a cells activity. Being able to assess fluorescence in a system is a critical part of taking these high-throughput measurements.The Earlham Institute is a leading research institute in the study of the genetics of living systems, and houses some of the UK's most advanced laboratories for these kind of studies. This project will extend our capacity and capability, in a way that enables us to share it with the entire UK research community. The Earlham Institute has been providing access to advanced biological sciences equipment for over 7 years to the UK research community through the BBSRC 'National Capability in Genomics' and prides itself on how we share our equipment, data and knowledge in transparent and open ways.