This EAGER project, funded by the Systems and Synthetic Biology program, will lead to the development of tools that will allow researchers to manipulate the behavior or state of cells, mostly microbes,for specific purposes or applications. The investigators will characterize and simulate the functions and dynamics of cell-communication networks using telecommunications and computer networks theory, and engineering principles. This fundamentally important research, if successful, will provide a novel perspective of how cells communicate, and will enable the simulation and the design of networks through cell behavior modification to perform useful functions such as the manufacture of chemicals, distributed environmental bio-sensing, and the control of cell proliferation and harmful states. This strongly interdisciplinary effort will offer valuable training for students and postdoctoral associates at all levels. The principle investigator will develop a course together with social scientists and ethicist to address how this work, and synthetic biology in general, will affect society as whole. The investigators will also mentor a team of undergraduates to participate in the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition.
The development of tools to analyze, model, and exploit cell-communication systems remains an unexplored avenue for both synthetic biology and computer network engineering. The goal of this project is to develop quantitative models based on telecommunications engineering principles, and by applying telecommunications metrics, to define and manipulate the exchange of information among cells. This will be achieved by pursuing four objectives: (1) the development of a modeling framework that will allow the identification of cell-communication pathways, and their chemical and physical parameters, from public databases; (2) the telecommunications metrics characterization of these cell-communication pathways, in particular focusing on currently poorly characterized syntrophic microbial systems; (3) the development of a computer simulation framework based on the COMSOL Multiphysics software platform to enable the validation of the developed models, and allow their further characterizations in a controlled in-silico environment; (4) the design and optimization of an artificial cell-communication system based on the syntrophy between two human gut microbes, i.e., Methanobrevibacter smithii and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, which will be a proof-of-concept of using the developed models to develop biological cell-communication systems able to reliably exchange artificial messages.
