Synthetic Biology
Synthetic Biology involves the well-founded modification and augmentation of naturally occurring and design of entirely synthetic biological systems to generate predictable new capacities and forms of behaviour. This has many potential applications, for research including: biotechnology and small molecule generation, bioremediation, generation of biofuels, and any process in which metabolism or behavioural or biochemical modification can result in enhanced and pre-determined behaviour. A core concept is the ‘biological tool kit’ by which components are generated that can be used in a variety of ways to construct biological systems.
- Generation of a novel toolkit for the construction of entirely synthetic and modified natural regulatory systems for simple genetic switches and more complex regulatory networks.
- Computational methods to support the design and construction of synthetic biological systems.
Projects
- Rational Design of mi/siRNA:target site Pairs in Synthetic Biology. PhD student: Maciej Trybilo; supervisors: David Gilbert and Amanda Harvey.
- Construction of Biochemical Models Based on the Reuse of Components. PhD student: Zujian Wu; Supervisors: David Gilbert and Xiaohui Liu.
