iCeMS Suzuki Lab Seminar: Prof Mark Isalan

This notice is to inform you of an upcoming seminar, all researchers are welcomed to attend. No registration is required.

Prof Mark Isalan
Synthetic Biology, Life Sciences, Imperial College London

Synthetic biology: from gene circuits to gene therapy
Recent advances in synthetic biology, directed evolution and genetic circuit engineering could lead to new practical applications. We are developing methods to engineer new proteins and transcription factors for bottom-up engineering of small genetic circuits. Furthermore, we are exploring ways to “rewire” large cellular networks, to access phenotype space conveniently. Finally, we have developed artificial zinc finger (ZF) transcription factor repressors to switch off the mutant huntingtin gene in Huntington’s disease (HD). By injecting AAV viruses expressing ZF, we were able to switch off mutant huntingtin by 80% in whole mouse brains, with effects lasting 6 months after a single injection. Thus, synthetic biology holds great promise for both biotechnology and medicine.