Cell factory design: unlocking the Multi-Objective Stochastic meTabolic game (MOST)

该项目的目标是通过计算建模来详细了解微生物代谢，从而指导微生物的合理设计（即基因敲除的鉴定，上调/下调目标）进入细胞工厂，作为石化生产路线的可持续替代，以低碳生产增值分子，如重组蛋白和人乳成分。微生物代谢活动的计算模拟与实验验证研究相结合，通过对细胞代谢中各种化学物质的流动进行可靠的预测，将为微生物系统提供新的见解，这将能够通过调节细胞的能量和碳流来指导细胞的设计，从而合成感兴趣的分子。反过来，这将导致一种新的计算工具的开发，用于有效的细胞工厂设计，最大限度地提高微生物的生产性能，并加速它们在生物制造业中的部署，以实现向生物经济的过渡。该项目的重要成果不仅包括对微生物系统的新认识和理解，而且还包括一套生物信息学工具的开发，可用于研究细胞生理学和设计用于工程生物学应用的生产性微生物系统。

The goal of this project is to develop a detailed understanding of microbial metabolism through computational modelling and therefore to guide rational design of microbes (i.e., identification of gene knockouts, up/down-regulation targets) into cell factories as a sustainable alternative to petrochemical production routes for low-carbon production of value-added molecules, such as recombinant protein and human milk ingredients. Computational simulation of microbial metabolic activities combined with experimental validation studies will provide new insights into microbial systems by making reliable predictions of the flow of various chemical substances in cell metabolism, which will be able to direct the design of cells by regulating cell's energy and carbon flow towards the synthesis of molecules of interests. In turn this will lead to the development of a new computational tool for effective cell factory design that maximises microbes' production performance and accelerates their deployment in biomanufacturing industry for the transition to a biological economy.Important outcomes of the project include not only new knowledge and understanding of microbial systems but also the development of a set of bioinformatics tools available for studying cell physiology and designing productive microbial systems for engineering biology applications.