Genetic programs for advanced cellular information processing and behaviour control

细菌细胞生活在不断变化的环境中，因此配备了特定的遗传编码传感器和信号网络，以持续感知和处理各种环境信号。从这个意义上说，细胞可以被视为复制活的计算机，但具有生化输入和输出。该项目旨在设计和构建合成基因电路，以编程具有设计功能的活细菌细胞，特别是用于先进的传感、计算、信息处理和控制多种细胞和环境信号的应用，例如在微生物细胞工厂。您将被引导构建各种遗传程序，包括新型传感器、遗传逻辑门、放大器、计算和存储电路。这些电路模块的分层和集成将导致可编程的生物计算机。然后，生物计算机将使编程的细胞具有一系列智能能力，用于生物传感、生物制造和生物治疗等领域。例如，在工业规模的生物反应器中，这些工程工具可以显著提高一些难以表达的、大的或有毒的治疗性蛋白质的产量。课程将指导学生利用其他工程系统中的设计原理，如模块化、正交性、系统表征和建模等，开发新的生物电路设计原理，以提高基因电路设计和组装的可预测性和可扩展性。该项目将为学生提供先进的分子克隆和遗传工具、创新微生物学、合成生物学技术和计算建模技能的全面培训。因此，该研究为学生提供了跨学科的研究经验和尖端技术接触，为他/她未来的研究生涯做好准备。学生还可能受益于与我们在生物技术领域的一些工业合作伙伴合作的机会。

Bacterial cells live in an ever changing environment and therefore are equipped with specific genetically-encoded sensors and signalling networks to continuously perceive and process the various environmental signals. In this sense, cells can be viewed as replicating living computers but with biochemical inputs and outputs. This project aims to design and construct synthetic gene circuits to program live bacterial cells with designer functions, in particular for advanced sensing, computing, information processing and control of multiple cellular and environmental signals with application, for example, in microbial cell factories.You will be guided to construct various genetic programs including novel sensors, genetic logic gates, amplifiers, computing and memory circuits. The layering and integration of these circuit modules will lead to a programmable biological computer. The biological computer will then enable the programmed cells to have a range of intelligent capabilities for application in areas including biosensing, biomanufacturing and biotherapies. By example, the engineered tools can be applied to significantly enhance the production yields of some difficult-to-express, large or toxic therapeutic proteins in industrial scale bioreactors. You will be guided to develop new biological circuit design principles by exploiting design principles in other engineering systems such as modularity, orthogonality, systematic characterization and modelling to increase the predictability and scalability of gene circuit design and assembly.The project will provide the student a comprehensive training of advanced molecular cloning and genetic tools, innovative microbiology and synthetic biology techniques and computational modelling skills. The research thus gives the student an inter-disciplinary research experience and cutting edge technologies exposure to prepare well for his/her future research career. The student may also benefit from the opportunity to work collaboratively with some of our industrial partners in biotechnology