PhD defense :
Distributed Biological Circuits in Synthetic Phage-Bacterial Systems
As the size and complexity of synthetic genetic circuits increase, they progressively become too burdensome for a single cell. In contrast, natural systems are able to encode very large programs by using complex regulatory mechanisms to keep the costs of expression under check. They do this by a combination of gene expression regulation and distribution of functions into multiple cells.
This project investigates how synthetic genetic circuits can be distributed in a consortia of bacterial cells that communicate with each other. We design, build, and test synthetic intercellular communication in microbiological mixed culture systems (with bacteria-phage mixed cultures) that are used to implement distributed biological logic gates. We expect the results of this work to not only enable the scale-up of synthetic genetic circuits but also improve our understanding of division of labour in microbial communities or multicellular organisms.
Jury members:
- Mme Mirielle ANSALDI, Research Director, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université – Rapporteure
- Mr Clément NIZAK, Research Director, Jean Perrin Laboratory, CNRS, Sorbonne Université – Rapporteur
- Mme Yolanda SCHAERLI, Research Director, Université de Lausanne – Examinatrice
- Mme Valérie PEZO, Research Director, F. Jacob Institute, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay – Examinatrice
- Mr Angel GOÑI-MORENO, Research Director, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, CSIC Madrid – Invited Member
Directed by:
Jean-Loup FAULON (Research Director, Micalis Institute, INRAE) and Manish KUSHWAHA (Research Director, Micalis Institute, INRAE).
