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| I am working to develop a new type of logic, called Post-Translational Logic, or PTL. PTL devices regulate the post-translational modifications of proteins to define system state and control cell function.
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| Current synthetic biological circuits make use of protein-DNA and RNA-RNA interactions to control gene expression in bacteria-- such circuits are Protein-DNA logic, or PDL. A brief comparison of the two types of logic is as follows:
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| '''PDL'''
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| *Engineered around gene expression
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| *Typical parts: transcriptional regulators, translational regulators
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| *Typical signal: PoPS, resulting in desired cellular ''concentrations'' of proteins.
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| *Easier to engineer than PTL
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| *Slow response time (hours)
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| *Uses one subset of cellular functions
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| '''PTL'''
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| *Engineered around protein modifications
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| *Typical parts: kinases, phosphorylation sites, docking sites
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| *Typical signa: rate of modification, resulting in desired ''state'' of proteins.
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| *More difficult to engineer than PDL
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| *Fast response time (seconds)
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| *Explores a new set of applications
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| '''In designing PTL logic, I am working to answer the following questions:'''
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| * What is a PTL part?
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| * What is a PTL device?
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| * What signals are passed between devices?
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| * What are device performance specifications?
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| Below I will describe some of my ideas.
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| The most intuitive definition of a PTL device is illustrated as follows.
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| [[Image:PTL fig1.JPG|600px|center]]
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| [[Image:PTL text1.JPG|500px|center]]
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