Optimizing metabolic functions in microbial production using synchronized populations

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It is now possible to use microbial processes to produce molecules in ways and quantities that were, until recently thought to be impossible. Novel strategies are constantly developed and improved to create value-added products in fields as varied as energy, pharmaceuticals and biomaterials. While many of these advances are promising in the laboratory, it is often a challenge to transfer them into economically viable processes. It is thus increasingly relevant to integrate the development of genetic tools and bioprocesses. Another important factor limiting the optimization of bio-production is the fact that cells in a population display a wide variety of different behaviors. Some of my recent work has shown that E. coli populations synchronized using self-cycling cultivation - a non-intrusive, process-based approach to obtaining cell populations with a narrow age distribution - displayed increased productivity of growth-associated products (phages and recombinant proteins). The synchronization process could thus lead to a beneficial reassignment of metabolic functions. The proposed research program aims to identify the metabolic factors affecting this increase in productivity in synchronized E. coli populations. From these results, efforts will be made to develop genetic tools and bioprocessing strategies to improve productivity in engineered pathways with synchronized microbial populations. It will thus be possible to treat whole microbial populations as if it were a single cell. This will allow tighter control of processes and higher yields of bio-products in a wide array of industries. Another objective of the program will be to train students in an interdisciplinary field combining process engineering, microbiology, molecular biology and metabolic engineering.