| Description |
Tools in synthetic biology can be used to alter the genetic construct of microorganisms and harness them to produce pharmaceutically relevant compounds. Optogenetics, which involves light to control gene expression, seems more promising than traditional techniques as it provides spatial and temporal control of gene induction. At the developmental stage, thousands of engineered strains are generated therefore, it becomes crucial to detect these compounds produced by the modified cells. Electrochemistry is a fast, non-destructive, and label-free technique that can be used to detect the metabolites. To handle a large population of cells, miniaturized electrodes can be used in electrochemistry, which can be integrated with a microfluidic platform to improve efficiency and throughput of the system.
The project will be focused on developing an electronic multiplexer that will be connected to electrochemical sensors attached to multiple wells in a microfluidic platform. These wells will contain a unique strain created with synthetic biology that produces the compounds of interest. The multiplexer will be connected to a single potentiostat, which will then perform the electrochemical measurements. The results obtained will be used to report the strain producing a higher level of metabolite.
If successful, the multiplexer and potentiostat setup will be integrated with the “Smart” LED setup that was previously developed at Shih Lab. The output obtained from the potentiostats will therefore be used to regulate the LED intensity, controlling the expression of the optogenetic strains. This project will optimize the response of the microorganisms, allowing us to identify the high producers having the best dynamic response, optimizing the titer of metabolites produced by cells.
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