Research

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Synthetic Biology underpins advances in the bioeconomy

Biological systems - including the simplest cells - exhibit a broad range of functions to thrive in their environment. Research in the Imperial College Centre for Synthetic Biology is focused on the possibility of engineering the underlying biochemical processes to solve many of the challenges facing society, from healthcare to sustainable energy. In particular, we model, analyse, design and build biological and biochemical systems in living cells and/or in cell extracts, both exploring and enhancing the engineering potential of biology. 

As part of our research we develop novel methods to accelerate the celebrated Design-Build-Test-Learn synthetic biology cycle. As such research in the Centre for Synthetic Biology highly multi- and interdisciplinary covering computational modelling and machine learning approaches; automated platform development and genetic circuit engineering ; multi-cellular and multi-organismal interactions, including gene drive and genome engineering; metabolic engineering; in vitro/cell-free synthetic biology; engineered phages and directed evolution; and biomimetics, biomaterials and biological engineering.

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{McCarty:2019:10.1021/acssynbio.9b00041,
author = {McCarty, NS and Shaw, WM and Ellis, T and Ledesma-Amaro, R},
doi = {10.1021/acssynbio.9b00041},
journal = {ACS Synthetic Biology},
pages = {906--910},
title = {Rapid assembly of gRNA arrays via modular cloning in yeast},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.9b00041},
volume = {8},
year = {2019}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - CRISPR is a versatile technology for genomic editing and regulation, but the expression of multiple gRNAs in S. cerevisiae has thus far been limited. We present here a simple extension to the Yeast MoClo Toolkit, which enables the rapid assembly of gRNA arrays using a minimal set of parts. Using a dual-PCR, Type IIs restriction enzyme Golden Gate assembly approach, at least 12 gRNAs can be assembled and expressed from a single transcriptional unit. We demonstrate that these gRNA arrays can stably regulate gene expression in a synergistic manner via dCas9-mediated repression. This approach expands the number of gRNAs that can be expressed in this model organism and may enable the versatile editing or transcriptional regulation of a greater number of genes in vivo.
AU  - McCarty,NS
AU  - Shaw,WM
AU  - Ellis,T
AU  - Ledesma-Amaro,R
DO  - 10.1021/acssynbio.9b00041
EP  - 910
PY  - 2019///
SN  - 2161-5063
SP  - 906
TI  - Rapid assembly of gRNA arrays via modular cloning in yeast
T2  - ACS Synthetic Biology
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.9b00041
UR  - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30939239
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/70031
VL  - 8
ER  -
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