Synthetic Biology

Scaling up genetic circuit design for cellular computing: advances and prospects

Synthetic biology aims to engineer and redesign biological systems for useful real-world applications in biomanufacturing, biosensing and biotherapy following a typical design-build-test cycle. Inspired from computer science and electronics, …

Synthesizing and tuning stochastic chemical reaction networks with specified behaviours

Methods from stochastic dynamical systems theory have been instrumental in understanding the behaviours of chemical reaction networks (CRNs) arising in natural systems. However, considerably less attention has been given to the inverse problem of …

Computing with biological switches and clocks

The complex dynamics of biological systems is primarily driven by molecular interactions that underpin the regulatory networks of cells. These networks typically contain positive and negative feedback loops, which are responsible for switch-like and …

Beyond activator-inhibitor networks: the generalised Turing mechanism

The Turing patterning mechanism is believed to underly the formation of repetitive structures in development, such as zebrafish stripes and mammalian digits, but it has proved difficult to isolate the specific biochemical species responsible for …

Model reduction enables Turing instability analysis of large reaction–diffusion models

Synthesizing a genetic network which generates stable Turing patterns is one of the great challenges of synthetic biology, but a significant obstacle is the disconnect between the mathematical theory and the biological reality. Current mathematical …

Orthogonal intercellular signaling for programmed spatial behavior

Bidirectional intercellular signaling is an essential feature of multicellular organisms, and the engineering of complex biological systems will require multiple pathways for intercellular signaling with minimal crosstalk. Natural quorum-sensing …

Characterization of intrinsic properties of promoters

Accurate characterization of promoter behavior is essential for the rational design of functional synthetic transcription networks such as logic gates and oscillators. However, transcription rates observed from promoters can vary significantly …

Synthesizing and tuning chemical reaction networks with specified behaviours

We consider how to generate chemical reaction networks (CRNs) from functional specifications. We propose a two-stage approach that combines synthesis by satisfiability modulo theories and Markov chain Monte Carlo based optimisation. First, we …

A computational method for automated characterization of genetic components

The ability to design and construct synthetic biological systems with predictable behavior could enable significant advances in medical treatment, agricultural sustainability, and bioenergy production. However, to reach a stage where such systems can …

Chemical Reaction Networks

Tools for programming chemical reaction networks (CRN), DNA strand-displacement circuits (DSD) and genetically engineered circuits (GEC)