BioCHIP: synthetic tissues with collective information-processing functions

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The past decade has seen researchers in the field of bottom-up synthetic biology try to fill the gap between biology and chemistry to better understand how the non-living becomes alive. To do this, attempts have been made to construct what are called protocells. These are cell-like entities created from scratch using a toolbox of molecules, materials, and chemical reactions. The Gobbo Group (https://gobbo-group.com) aims to pioneer new research frontiers in bottom-up synthetic biology by developing the first experimental methodologies to organise millions of protocells into self-standing protocellular materials that are stable in water, highly modular, and engineered with specific internal architectures for information processing tasks. More specifically, the aim of this project is the implementation of the first protocellular material-based BioCHIP that can sense, process and respond to DNA signals received in input from the bulk solution. The student will tackle the following exciting challenges of BioCHIP design and synthetic construction: 1) the development of methodologies for the light-induced controlled release of DNA strands from protocell building blocks; 2) the study of how chemicals diffuse within a protocellular material; and 3) the implementation of logic bio-circuits within a protocellular material based on toehold-mediated DNA strand displacement.