Designing Synthetic Genetic Components for mRNA Therapeutics

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The project will involve 1) bioinformatics analysis of potential cell-type specific features that determine protein expression in human tissues. E.g. coding sequence features, UTR features, signal peptide features. 2) Using information from 1, the student will then design libraries of synthetic mRNA sequences with varying predicted functions (e.g. high level expression in muscle cells, minimised expression in dendritic cells). 3) sequences will be tested in in vitro cell models to assess their performance using high-throughput screening techniques (e.g. using robot liquid handlers etc). 4) following data analysis, second generation sequences will be designed, synthesised and tested. 5) the major project outputs are new mRNA sequence parts with defined and validated function that can be incorporated into gene therapies/vaccines to enhance product performance (i.e. higher expression with reduced side-effects).