NEW PREPRINT! Do you think we can do better when characterising resource competition properties of gene circuit modules? If no, think again; if yes, you’re in for a pitch how exactly we can do that – automated culturing, cybergenetic control and all! 1/.

RT @GallowayLabMIT: So you want to change transgene expression: just change your promoter, right? Changing the promoter increases RNA and t….

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So how can we reframe 'balancing innovation with safety'? Well, it's still vital to *innovate safely* and have robust regulation, but I'd say we also have the responsibility to *innovate FOR safety* - and this premise is baked into the idea of Engineering Biology itself 6/6.

Identifying these behaviours, we can then design biosystems with robustness, safety and reliability in mind (e.g. that's what our ongoing @EEBioPG programme is all about). Innovative stuff, but hardly pitted against safety! 5/6.

Using automatic culturing platforms, we work to characterise biotechnologies' behaviours as they're affected by factors like randomness, evolution or (my own area of interest) the sheer interconnectedness and complexity of living systems - so they won't catch us by surprise 4/6.

I, for one, am doing a PhD supervised by Prof @Harrison_Steel at the Oxford Control Group. Just like EngBio's name would suggest, we approach problems in *biology* with principles from control *engineering* - which include precisely robustness, predictability and safety! 3/6.

One common point in these discussions is the need to 'balance innovation with safety'. Fair! As mentioned in the debate, one mishap can tarnish the field's reputation for good, so robust regulation is vital. But why do we often frame innovation and safety as opposites? 2/6.

Exciting time in UK EngBio governance!.-Debate on the House of Lords' EngBio report -New Science & Technology framework -EngBio Aspirations Report Won't post all my (precious) thoughts, but hope one is OK 1/6.

Excited to have spent 2 days with great people, great ideas and a great purpose! Our team made a smart NHS voicemail - timely and potentially very impactful, if you ask me. With us coming 3rd and getting the 'Outcompeting the Government' prize, I'm glad the judges seem to agree.

RT @ProfTomEllis: UK Parliament (house of lords) will be debating the ‘Don’t Fail to Scale’ report from the @LordsSTCom on the UK’s nationa….

RT @Harrison_Steel: We are hiring a Postdoc to work on a collaborative "Living Manufacturing" project alongside Martyn Dade Robertson, Meng….

RT @KSechkar: NEW PREPRINT! Do you think we can do better when characterising resource competition properties of gene circuit modules? If n….

Also a 10/9, but as a reminder you can find all the same research updates at ksechkar. bsky. social and ksechkar. substack. com , or on other social media listed at - same taste, none of the calories.

Thanks to my supervisor @Harrison_Steel , as well as to our collaborators from @EEBioPG - @sarambrancato @marucci_lucia and Dr Ludovic Renson for advice. They’re also working on exciting applications of CBC right now, so watch them closely (what a time to be alive!) 9/9.

For now, this is more of a pitch with an in silico proof-of-concept, but we discuss which developments in SynBio and control will help us apply this protocol in vivo. Briefly, advanced control algorithms + single-cell culturing + optogenetics = fun 8/.

We successfully simulate our protocol using different models of various complexities (e.g. see results for a mechanistic resource-aware cell model in the pic below) – gives us reason to think it should work in (even more complex) real cells! 7/

From start to finish, our proposed method involves first establishing the probe’s properties, then using it to do CBC with the genetic module of interest. The results can then predict how any two characterised modules will compete for resources! 6/

Here, the module of interest’s output is its fluorescent gene expression, and the feedback input is e.g. chemical induction of another 'probe' genetic module competing with it for resources 5/

We suggest using control-based continuation (CBC), where a stabilising external feedback input drives a system through the entire range of its equilibria! 4/.

And yet, multistability and bifurcations are the most fun bit! And we know resource competition can cause them (and sometimes that’s even leveraged by circuit designs like our recent Punisher . So characterisation of competition should include them… 3/.

To gauge resource demands, we often look at how modules compete for gene expression resources with constitutive fluorescent reporter genes. But in multistable systems, constant resource competition may drive your system to just one steady state among many possible! 2/