View source for Programming Cells

'''Programming Cells''' - a public lecture

7 PM, Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at the [http://sfcomplex.org Santa Fe Complex]

[http://www.voigtlab.ucsf.edu/ Christopher A. Voigt], University of California, San Francisco

''Cells can be programmed like robots by combining commands encoded in the DNA.  I will describe the beginnings of a programming language for bacteria and how it can be applied to problems in energy, materials, and drug production.''

'''Abstract'''

We are developing a basis by which cells can be programmed like robots to perform complex, coordinated tasks for pharmaceutical and industrial applications. We are engineering new sensors that give bacteria the senses of touch, sight, and smell. Genetic circuits — analogous to their electronic counterparts — are built to integrate the signals from the various sensors. Finally, the output of the gene circuits is used to control cellular processes. We are also developing theoretical tools from statistical mechanics and non-linear dynamics to understand how to combine genetic devices and predict their collective behavior.
	
Orthogonal green and red light sensors have been constructed that operate in E. coli.  When an image is projected on a lawn of bacteria, the sensors are able to record the image as a pattern of gene expression. We are using this as a platform to combine simple genetic circuits to reconstruct signal processing algorithms. The bacteria present the results of the computation to the user as a visible, printed output at a macroscopic scale.  I will describe how this has inspired new computational methods to connect and optimize genetic circuits. This work will help elucidate the design principles by which simple genetic circuits can be combined to produce complex functions.  Further, it can be used to program cells to produce fuels, materials, and drugs.

[[image:voigt.jpg]]