Cells use circuits of interacting molecules to process signals, remember information, communicate, and interact with their environments. Our group’s primary focus is to understand the general design principles governing these biological circuits. Our approach involves developing advanced forms of rational design and laboratory evolution, integrating these approaches with theory and computation, to create artificial cellular systems that can recapitulate and frequently exceed the design and functional repertoire of nature. In this talk, I will first describe our efforts to develop synthetic biology frameworks to study how eukaryotic cells control gene expression and generate extraordinary levels of phenotypic variation, and ultimately use this knowledge to create programmable cellular therapies to address the most pressing human diseases. Second, I will describe complementary efforts to develop technologies that can harness evolution in the laboratory at unprecedented scale. I will share how we are applying these technologies to study how biological circuit design is shaped by evolutionary constraints, and to rapidly generate new and improved biomolecules to discover new classes of protein-based therapeutics. 

 

Ahmad (Mo) Khalil is the Dorf-Ebner Distinguished Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and the Founding Associate Director of the Biological Design Center at Boston University. He is also a Visiting Scholar at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, and Co-Director of a NIH/NIGMS T32 PhD Training Program in synthetic biology. His team develops synthetic biology and laboratory evolution frameworks to uncover the design principles governing gene regulatory circuits, and to create artificial biological systems that enable new and powerful therapeutic capabilities. He is recipient of numerous awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), DoD Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship, NIH New Innovator Award, NSF CAREER Award, DARPA Young Faculty Award, and Hartwell Foundation Biomedical Research Award, and he has received numerous awards for teaching excellence at both the Department and College levels.

https://www.bu.edu/khalillab 

 

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