MINOR IN SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY

Fall semester: BIOL3330 Fundamentals in Synthetic Biology

Spring semester: BIOL4677 Synthetic Biology and Bioengineering

* Recommended to take before enroll BIOL4677

Instructor: Tianhu Sun, Assistant Professor

Biology Department, ETSU

What is synthetic biology?

Overview: BIOL3330 Fundamentals in Synthetic Biology

• Lecture-based
• Hands-on experience of primer design, vector design, protein visualization
• Lecture series from researchers in different areas
• Prepare students for iGEM competition (1st team in ETSU: 2023)

iGEM: International Genetically Engineered Machine

BIOL3330 Fundamentals in Synthetic Biology guest lectures 2023:

Synthetic biology of benzylisoquinoline alkaloids in yeast

Jianing Han, PhD candidate, Cornell University 

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Designing and Engineering cell encapsulation biomaterials for type 1 diabetes (T1D) management 

Daqian Gao, Research Associate, Yale University 

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Plant Volatiles: from pathway discovery to metabolic engineering-genetic code controlling the scent of flowers!

Xing-Qi (David) Huang, Research Associate, Purdue University  

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Enhancing Nutritional Quality of Algae and Crop Plants through Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology

Mohammad Yazdani, Research Associate, Cornell University 

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Antibody engineering and production

Adeela Ali, PhD candidate, Emory University

Plant synthetic biology

Lauren Alexandra Owens, PhD candidate, University of California, Berkeley 

Health beneficial synthetic product: Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMO)

Jason Zhang, co-founder, Layer Origin Nutrition

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Cancer Therapy Using Engineered CAR-T cells 

Kory Wells, PhD candidate, Emory University 

BIOL3330 Fundamentals in Synthetic Biology

The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition

• Annual, worldwide synthetic biology event aimed at undergraduate university students, as well as high school and graduate students.
• Opportunity to push the boundaries of synthetic biology by tackling everyday issues facing the world.
• Learn, Design, Build, Test, and measure a system of their own design using interchangeable biological parts and standard molecular biology techniques.
• Build a better world by solving problems with the help of synthetic biology.

BIOL3330 Fundamentals in Synthetic Biology

The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition

iGEM Grand Jamboree

BIOL3330 Fundamentals in Synthetic Biology

The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition

Nature Biotechnology 39:1599–1601 (2021)

Schematic highlighting the interdisciplinarity of iGEM, a platform where scientists from several disciplines converge to develop synthetic biological systems aimed at tackling global issues. Participants engage with Wet and DryLab activities as well as with science communication and outreach, ethics and biosafety, and policy making, to name a few. In view of this multifaceted experience, its output includes – beyond the educational role – academic publications and young researchers. 

BIOL3330 Fundamentals in Synthetic Biology

The International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition

Agriculture: 21 teams

Bio-manufacturing: 34 teams

Bioremediation: 39 teams

Climate Crisis: 13 teams

Conservation: 8 teams

Diagnostics: 33 teams

Environment: 23 teams

Food & Nutrition: 10 teams

Foundational Advance: 23 teams

High School: 123 teams

Software & AI: 7 teams

Therapeutics: 65 teams

iGEM tracks (2023):

Using SnapGene to design plasmids

AlphaFold to predict protein structure

Overview: BIOL4677 Synthetic Biology and Bioengineering

• All wet-lab, intensive experiments
• Molecular cloning: PCR, digestion, ligation, transformation, plasmid extraction
• RNA extraction
• Protein expression, SDS-PAGE gel, western blot
• Primer design & directed evolution
• Plant transformation/visualization: fluorescent & bioluminescent
• Plasmid extraction competition instead of final
• Involved in manuscript writing and publication
• Training for iGEM team

Chromoplast isolation from tomato

Engineered strain producing lycopene pigment

Student taking picture of protein expression result

Western blot to check antibodies against chloroplast and chromoplast protein samples on ChemiDOC MP Imaging system

Transient expression of tobacco leaf of a RUBY plasmid fro UCSD

Bioluminescence from transformation of firefly luciferase

Spring semester: BIOL3330 Fundamentals in Synthetic Biology (Lectures)

Fall semester: BIOL4677 Synthetic Biology and Bioengineering (Labs)

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!