BNMC Seminar - In vitro transcriptional circuits: design, dynamics, and robustness

Erik Winfree
Associate Professor
Computer Science, Computation and Neural Systems
Caltech

Synthetic biochemical circuits both provide an opportunity to embed control logic within chemical systems for technological applications and provide a platform for probing our understanding of general principles for biochemical circuits.  We have developed a general approach to the construction of in vitro biochemical circuits based on the transcription and degradation of RNA molecules.

Consisting of just DNA templates and two enzymes, in principle arbitrary circuits can be systematically constructed, displaying a rich variety of dynamical and computational behavior.  We have experimentally demonstrated individual transcriptional switches, a bistable network, and several oscillating circuits.  In doing so, we have encountered a number of unexpected difficulties -- deviations from ideal circuit behavior -- that help frame the critical questions of how to model and design robust biochemical systems.