Magni:Research
- Modularity of biological parts and devices.
A key concept in synthetic biology is the composition of predictable systems from a set of reusable, well characterized parts. This paradigm has been successful in all the fields of engineering and, similarly, it could enable the design of customized biological systems without following trial-and-error approaches. However, modularity is required to accomplish this task, as only in a modular framework parts can be individually characterized and assembled in a complex system in a predictable way. Towards this goal, we are now investigating the predictability boundaries of biological components to disclose the modularity boundaries of several parts and devices when tested in different conditions (e.g. chassis, copy number, media) and assembled in increasingly complex circuits in prokaryotes.
- Biofuel production
The foundational research studies on biological parts are exploited to optimize a recombinant metabolic pathway for ethanol production from lactose fermentation.
- Quorum sensing re-engineering
Quorum sensing elements are used to engineer a genetic circuit that implements a closed-loop control system
