As a wetlab experiments guy, a lot of DL/ML/AI baffles me, so I'm learning a lot supervising @tdsone3 in his PhD to bring AI-based design to synthetic biology in Baker's yeast. His first output 'Yorzoi' is now on BioRxiv. Here are my thoughts on this... biorxiv.org/content/10.110… Having developed many methods to write/build and engineer the genome of Baker's yeast over the last 15 years in my group, we began to think about AI-led genome design in this industrial workhorse a few years ago after finishing a 666kb synthetic chromosome for the Sc2.0 project.

Another new paper from our lab - this time from Anastasiya Kishkevich who has developed "YTK Display-and-Secrete" a library-based method to identifying genetic designs good for protein secretion from S.cerevisiae yeast. Online now at ACS SynBio - pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac… This paper is all about taking a combinatorial approach to the age-old biotech problem of how to design a gene cassette to secrete a protein of interest from yeast. What strength promoter to use? Which signal peptide? The best choice varies widely depending on the protein target.

New paper from our lab on synthetic genome work in yeast is out - Iterative SCRaMbLE for Engineering Synthetic Genome Modules and Chromosomes. Exciting project led by Jane (Xinyu) Lu in our group, now online @NatureComms nature.com/articles/s4146… The paper looks at what happens when we rearrange the order of genes in genomes as a way to optimise their function. We do this with synthetic genome modules (SGMs) designed to encode a single, testable function and with synthetic yeast chromosomes that encode the host phenotype.

It’s our annual ‘mini-iGEM’ day at Imperial where undergrads present their iGEM style project ideas with talks and a poster session with prizes. @IC_CSynBio @ImperialBioeng @ImperialLifeSci >> let’s take a look at the 6 projects 👀 ⬇️ Fresh Lid - An eco-friendly bin lid biofilm with engineered B. subtilis that senses and degrades foul odors while releasing pleasant, pest-repelling scents.

In our work on engineered living materials, a question we ask ourselves is ‘How can we use synthetic biology to make materials more sustainable?’ In our new preprint, Marcus Walker @Marcus_waal answers this with ‘Bacterial Black Sheep’.
How? Read on… 🧵⬇️
biorxiv.org/content/10.110… Our favourite bugs for making ELMs are kombucha bacteria, which can very efficiently make an off-white bacterial cellulose material at scale that has great promise as a biodegradable textile for the fashion and accessories industry, especially as a vegan alternative leather.

It’s the return of the Great Synbio Bake-Off today at @ImperialBioeng today. 8 baked dishes from GFP E.coli macaroons to spicy bhokla. Which one is going to win the vote? ⬇️

Very proud of this shiny new publication from my group led by @CandiedGoose which came out at ACS SynBio this weekened. A modular cloning toolkit of useful genetic parts and plasmids for programming cellulose-producing bacteria to do all sorts of things. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac… Another Golden Gate toolkit isn't exactly the sexiest science, these days is it? But having DNA in this standard format is absolutely key to the way we and others do synbio at scale these days; it's quick, combinatorial and flexible. 5 years ago we decided it was a must-have.