Challenges in the development (and validation) of microbial consortia include the design of Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) that cooperate to achieve a common goal, the maintenance of a stable coexistence between different populations, and the development of technologies for the in-vivo validation and prototyping of the proposed designs.
Recent projects we are involved with include:
- The design of a feedback control loop with biological components
- The design of multicellular control for cell populations
- The realization of techniques for the regulation of relative population numbers in consortia (ratiometric control)
- The development of experimental platforms for in-vivo control experiments where more population can be cocultured
Our approach combines in-silico mathematical predictions, to laboratory activities aimed at the implementation and the in vivo testing of the designed synthetic circuits. Specifically, we make use of an advanced agent-based simulation framework (BSim) to test our designs in silico, and of a cutting-edge microfluidics experimental platform, together with the turbidostat we proposed, to validate our circuits in vivo.
We are constantly improving the tools (improvement of simulation and image processing software packages) as well as methods and techniques employed in our research (design of innovative microfluidic devices) in order to meet the demanding and stimulating challenges we encounter daily in our research activity.
Check here the proceedings of a recent tutorial workshop on control in synthetic biology held at the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control 2019 in Nice, France.