Systems and Synthetic Biology

Systems and Synthetic Biology Leaders: Douglas Lauffenburger, Richard Murray, Michelle O'Malley

Within the Systems and Synthetic Biology research focus area, there are four interrelated research themes: understanding biological networks and circuits, biological synthesis strategies, spatial and temporal dependences in biological systems, and manipulation of cellular behaviors. Work in this area includes the study of inter-species translation via systems biology models, designing and testing field-programmable biomolecular circuits, engineering sense and respond enzyme complexes, developing novel synthetic biology methods to create new composite nanomaterials, identifying novel light detection mechanisms based on TRP channel function, creation of tunable thermal bioswitches, modeling of metagenomes for horizontal gene transfer, development of methods to resolve dynamic cellular protein synthesis, and the creation of microbial traps for manipulation and functional analysis. These projects require a rich integration of theoretical modeling, synthetic chemistry, biological manipulation and functional studies.