ROADBLOCK: Towards Programmable Defensive Bacterial Coatings & Skins

这个项目适合EPSRC合成生物学的标志。这个应用程序驱动的研究项目将寻求将合成生物学(SB)的新计算算法、工具和理论的创建与成熟的湿实验室技术相结合，为SB开发一个集成的和经过验证的软件套件(即电子工作台)。该项目将专注于合成生物学(SB)路线，以改良细菌为基础，创造工程涂层，作为生物可编程的屏障，防止殖民。该提案中的目标应用是医疗保健，使用SB开发基于生物的工具来应对感染，然而，预计路障结构可能适用于应避免细菌定植或生物膜形成的其他医疗、环境或工业应用。它还将考虑这项技术带来的重大社会和伦理问题。新的计算工具将允许快速的生物模型原型和规范、模拟、验证、分析和优化。此外，它还将制造路障生物部件、设备和系统。以前的SB项目主要以数学(如控制理论、分叉分析、微分方程组等)组件作为辅助工具。在这个项目中，计算机科学(CS)占据了中心舞台，因为我们希望在路障生物设备的背景下推动其边界。据我们所知，这是第一个直接推动尖端计算机科学(CS)活动发展的湿SB项目。

This project fits the EPSRC Synthetic Biology Signpost.This application-driven research project will seek to integrate the creation of new computational algorithms, tools and theories for synthetic biology (SB) with well-established wet lab techniques to develop an integrated and validated software suite (i.e. an in silico workbench) for SB. This project will focus on synthetic biology (SB) routes for creating engineered coatings, based on modified bacteria, that will act as bio-programmable shields against colonisation. The target application in this proposal is healthcare, using SB to develop biological based tools to tackle infection, however it is envisaged that ROADBLOCK constructs could be applicable in other medical, environmental or industrial applications in which bacterial colonisation or biofilm formation should be avoided. It will also consider the major social and ethical issues raised by this technology. The new computational tools will permit rapid bio-model prototyping and specification, simulation, verification, analysis and optimisation. Moreover, it will create ROADBLOCK biological parts, devices and systems. Previous SB projects had mainly mathematical (e.g. control theory, bifurcation analysis, differential equations, etc) components as auxiliary tools. In this project, Computer Science (CS) takes centre stage as we look to push its boundaries in the context of ROADBLOCK bio-devices. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first wet SB project that will directly drive the development of cutting-edge computer science (CS) activities.