The microbes that live in our guts, together known as the gut microbiota, are essential for maintaining our health. Changes to the make-up and function of the microbiota have been associated with a wide range of diseases including inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, diabetes and neurodevelopmental disorders. Our understanding of the gut environment remains limited, however, in part due to its inaccessibility.
Dr David Riglar will discuss two examples of synthetic biology providing a unique window into the gut environment: 1) the development of bacterial memory circuits as non-invasive biosensors for disease and 2) the use of a synthetic oscillating gene-circuit to measure bacterial growth within the gut. Together these projects demonstrate the exciting potential for engineered microbes to contribute to our understanding of the gut during health and disease, and to one day monitor and treat disease in the clinic.