Section: Overall Objectives

Highlight: Cells driven by a computer, publication in PNAS

In collaboration with the Hersen group (MSC Lab), we have shown that it is possible to control in real-time gene expression in yeast cells. The main novelty resides in the use of a computer-driven feedback loop to control directly a small population of cells or even single cells. Our interface between cells and computer allowed us to drive the expression level of a given gene so that it follows a user-defined temporal profile over many cell generations and with an unprecedented accuracy. This approach opens perspectives for applications in synthetic biology and biotechnology domains.

This work has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA [6] , and has attracted the interest of the media (journal du CNRS, l'Humanité Dimanche, Phys.org).