In order to understand the origins and organization of living systems, their study should, in our view, not be limited only to biological systems of the natural world but should also include the study of "malleable'' living systems of the laboratory. We view this situation analogously to the articulation and development of condensed matter physics fueled not only by the quest to understand the organization of matter but also by the parallel multi-disciplinary technical enterprise such as materials science and nanotechnology.
These approaches of the laboratory comprise a kind of synthetic biology --- by synthetic we mean de novo physico-chemical systems that exhibit properties of the living and also living forms derived from systematic, quantifiable directed evolution in the laboratory. In constructing synthetic systems capable of transitioning to states of growth, replication and evolution, we actively avoid the direct use of sub-components that are products of biological evolution while using directed evolution to develop living systems that are suitable for a physical probing of functional and morphological transitions. This juxtaposition, placing evolution, mechanics ('mechanics' here broadly includes various aspects of force generation, patterning and spatial organization) and topology at the crux of our complementary approaches, is the central aspect of the synthetic biology that we envision --- this must also be seen as a key distinction from other synthetic biology approaches which are typically design-engineering and 'application' driven.
In this setting, our lab is raising many fundamental questions related to the interplay of mechanics, energetics, growth, replication and eco-evolutionary dynamics of living systems. To answer these questions, we develop quantitative experiments combined with conceptual frameworks following two broad strategies:
(i) by using directed evolution as a perturbation tool, we directly probe biological organization and complexity at different spatio-temporal scales -- these studies range from evolving the mechano-chemical properties of cells and the mechanics and energetics associated with transitions to multicellularity. We also have some interest in single molecule dynamics, collective behavior of microbes and multi-species interactions
(ii) we develop simple physico-chemical systems that display the emergent dynamics of living processes -- these include studies on the spontaneous emergence of protocells from chemical mixtures, autocatalytic reaction chemistries, minimal self-reproduction, heredity, Darwinian evolution scenarios and the design of (active, colloidal) building blocks capable of assembly, dynamics and learning.
These approaches of the laboratory comprise a kind of synthetic biology --- by synthetic we mean de novo physico-chemical systems that exhibit properties of the living and also living forms derived from systematic, quantifiable directed evolution in the laboratory. In constructing synthetic systems capable of transitioning to states of growth, replication and evolution, we actively avoid the direct use of sub-components that are products of biological evolution while using directed evolution to develop living systems that are suitable for a physical probing of functional and morphological transitions. This juxtaposition, placing evolution, mechanics ('mechanics' here broadly includes various aspects of force generation, patterning and spatial organization) and topology at the crux of our complementary approaches, is the central aspect of the synthetic biology that we envision --- this must also be seen as a key distinction from other synthetic biology approaches which are typically design-engineering and 'application' driven.
In this setting, our lab is raising many fundamental questions related to the interplay of mechanics, energetics, growth, replication and eco-evolutionary dynamics of living systems. To answer these questions, we develop quantitative experiments combined with conceptual frameworks following two broad strategies:
(i) by using directed evolution as a perturbation tool, we directly probe biological organization and complexity at different spatio-temporal scales -- these studies range from evolving the mechano-chemical properties of cells and the mechanics and energetics associated with transitions to multicellularity. We also have some interest in single molecule dynamics, collective behavior of microbes and multi-species interactions
(ii) we develop simple physico-chemical systems that display the emergent dynamics of living processes -- these include studies on the spontaneous emergence of protocells from chemical mixtures, autocatalytic reaction chemistries, minimal self-reproduction, heredity, Darwinian evolution scenarios and the design of (active, colloidal) building blocks capable of assembly, dynamics and learning.
Collaborations (past and present):