Engineering systems with emergent patterns in synthetic biofilms

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The project will develop computational approaches to guide engineering of synthetic biology gene circuits for spatial pattering.The self-organisation of spatial patterns and structures in developmental biology is a fundamental problem that promises to underpin our future efforts in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Computational Systems Biologists and Synthetic Biologists can together provide a bridge from theory towards practical applications, by building working prototype systems.In our groups, we have already built simple synthetic patterns using cells, and are working towards our dream of engineering self-organising tissues and organs at will. Although several patterning mechanisms have been proposed in classical developmental biology, the Turing pattern mechanism is unique in terms of self-correction, and economy of design, and regular patterns have never been constructed ab initio using defined biological components. It is therefore a tantalising engineering and modelling target, and we have chosen to engineer these systems in bacterial 'lawns' or biofilms. In this theory project in the Endres group, we will implement a biophysical reaction-advection diffusion model for such a growing biofilm, considering gene expression, as well as fluid- and cell-mechanical aspects. Theoretical predictions will be tested in the nearby Isalan lab.