Tal Danino is a synthetic biologist and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University. [1]
Tal Danino | |
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Awards | TED Fellow, Department of Defense Era of Hope Scholar |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles (B.S., 2005) University of California, San Diego (PhD., 2011) |
Thesis | Synthetic gene oscillators and their applications |
Doctoral advisor | Jeff Hasty |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Synthetic Biology |
Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Columbia University |
Website | taldanino.com |
Danino graduated from the University of California,Los Angeles with Bachelor of Science degrees in physics,mathematics and chemistry. He received a Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in bioengineering from the University of California,San Diego,and completed postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [2]
Danino’s research focuses on the design and characterization of dynamic gene circuits in microbes with applications such as cancer diagnostics and therapeutics,summarized in a 2015 TED talk. [3]
For his PhD thesis,he worked in Jeff Hasty's laboratory at UCSD,where he created synchronized oscillations in bacterial populations through synthetic biological circuits that combined positive and negative feedback with a fluorescent reporter. [4] The resulting paper and corresponding video were published in Nature in 2010. [5]
As a postdoctoral scientist at MIT,he worked in Sangeeta Bhatia's laboratory at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research,where he used probiotics to colonize tumors and detect their presence in urine via a color-changing molecule,resulting in a publication in Science Translational Medicine in 2015. [6] Here he also characterized an engineered strain of S. typhimurium for the sustained release of cancer therapeutics,which was published in Nature in 2016. [7]
Since 2016,Danino runs the Synthetic Biological Systems Laboratory at Columbia University,which focuses on using Synthetic Biology to engineer living medicines. The lab designs gene circuits that control the behavior of living cells to sense-and-respond to their environments in vivo. [8] They primarily focus on programming bacteria as a cancer therapy –whereby microbes selectively colonize tumors and are engineered to locally produce and release therapeutics,controlled by genetic circuits that enhance safety and efficacy. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25]
Danino transforms living microorganisms like bacteria and cancer cells from the laboratory into bioart works using various forms of media. His works encompass many themes but often explores the relationship between humans,microbes and technology.
His work has been exhibited at Zurcher Gallery,in New York,USA,ArtJaws.com in Paris,France,Hyundai Motorstudio Beijing,in Beijing,China,Liberty Science Center in New Jersey,USA,Da Vinci Creative Biennial at Seoul Foundation of Arts and Culture - Seoul Art Space Geumchen in Seoul,Korea,Vitenparken in As,Norway,Eyebeam in New York,USA,Boston Museum of Fine Arts in Boston,USA,Waterfall Mansion &Gallery in New York,USA,and many other places.
He did artist residencies at Eyebeam,Seed,and recently was part of 7x7 (Rhizome/New Museum). His work has been featured in many media outlets such as New York Times, [26] [27] The Atlantic, [28] and Wired magazine. [29] He has collaborated with many artists,notably Vik Muniz [30] and Anicka Yi. [31]
Drug resistance is the reduction in effectiveness of a medication such as an antimicrobial or an antineoplastic in treating a disease or condition. The term is used in the context of resistance that pathogens or cancers have "acquired",that is,resistance has evolved. Antimicrobial resistance and antineoplastic resistance challenge clinical care and drive research. When an organism is resistant to more than one drug,it is said to be multidrug-resistant.
Lactococcus lactis is a gram-positive bacterium used extensively in the production of buttermilk and cheese,but has also become famous as the first genetically modified organism to be used alive for the treatment of human disease. L. lactis cells are cocci that group in pairs and short chains,and,depending on growth conditions,appear ovoid with a typical length of 0.5 - 1.5 µm. L. lactis does not produce spores (nonsporulating) and are not motile (nonmotile). They have a homofermentative metabolism,meaning they produce lactic acid from sugars. They've also been reported to produce exclusive L-(+)-lactic acid. However,reported D-(−)-lactic acid can be produced when cultured at low pH. The capability to produce lactic acid is one of the reasons why L. lactis is one of the most important microorganisms in the dairy industry. Based on its history in food fermentation,L. lactis has generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status,with few case reports of it being an opportunistic pathogen.
Synthetic biology (SynBio) is a multidisciplinary field of science that focuses on living systems and organisms,and it applies engineering principles to develop new biological parts,devices,and systems or to redesign existing systems found in nature.
In biology,chimeric antigen receptors (CARs)—also known as chimeric immunoreceptors,chimeric T cell receptors or artificial T cell receptors—are receptor proteins that have been engineered to give T cells the new ability to target a specific antigen. The receptors are chimeric in that they combine both antigen-binding and T cell activating functions into a single receptor.
Pamela Ann Silver is an American cell and systems biologist and a bioengineer. She holds the Elliot T. and Onie H. Adams Professorship of Biochemistry and Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Systems Biology. Silver is one of the founding Core Faculty Members of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.
Gut microbiota,gut microbiome,or gut flora,are the microorganisms,including bacteria,archaea,fungi,and viruses,that live in the digestive tracts of animals. The gastrointestinal metagenome is the aggregate of all the genomes of the gut microbiota. The gut is the main location of the human microbiome. The gut microbiota has broad impacts,including effects on colonization,resistance to pathogens,maintaining the intestinal epithelium,metabolizing dietary and pharmaceutical compounds,controlling immune function,and even behavior through the gut–brain axis.
A short hairpin RNA or small hairpin RNA is an artificial RNA molecule with a tight hairpin turn that can be used to silence target gene expression via RNA interference (RNAi). Expression of shRNA in cells is typically accomplished by delivery of plasmids or through viral or bacterial vectors. shRNA is an advantageous mediator of RNAi in that it has a relatively low rate of degradation and turnover. However,it requires use of an expression vector,which has the potential to cause side effects in medicinal applications.
An artificial cell,synthetic cell or minimal cell is an engineered particle that mimics one or many functions of a biological cell. Often,artificial cells are biological or polymeric membranes which enclose biologically active materials. As such,liposomes,polymersomes,nanoparticles,microcapsules and a number of other particles can qualify as artificial cells.
The historical application of biotechnology throughout time is provided below in chronological order.
James Joseph Collins is an American bioengineer who serves as the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering &Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Collins conducted research showing that artificial intelligence (AI) approaches can be used to discover novel antibiotics,such as halicin and abaucin. He serves as the Director of the Antibiotics-AI Project at MIT,which is supported by The Audacious Project,and is the faculty lead for life sciences at the MIT Jameel Clinic.
Checkpoint kinase 1,commonly referred to as Chk1,is a serine/threonine-specific protein kinase that,in humans,is encoded by the CHEK1 gene. Chk1 coordinates the DNA damage response (DDR) and cell cycle checkpoint response. Activation of Chk1 results in the initiation of cell cycle checkpoints,cell cycle arrest,DNA repair and cell death to prevent damaged cells from progressing through the cell cycle.
Erkki Ruoslahti is a cancer researcher and distinguished professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. He moved from Finland to the United States in 1976.
Synthetic lethality is defined as a type of genetic interaction where the combination of two genetic events results in cell death or death of an organism. Although the foregoing explanation is wider than this,it is common when referring to synthetic lethality to mean the situation arising by virtue of a combination of deficiencies of two or more genes leading to cell death,whereas a deficiency of only one of these genes does not. In a synthetic lethal genetic screen,it is necessary to begin with a mutation that does not result in cell death,although the effect of that mutation could result in a differing phenotype,and then systematically test other mutations at additional loci to determine which,in combination with the first mutation,causes cell death arising by way of deficiency or abolition of expression.
Arginylglycylaspartic acid (RGD) is the most common peptide motif responsible for cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix (ECM),found in species ranging from Drosophila to humans. Cell adhesion proteins called integrins recognize and bind to this sequence,which is found within many matrix proteins,including fibronectin,fibrinogen,vitronectin,osteopontin,and several other adhesive extracellular matrix proteins. The discovery of RGD and elucidation of how RGD binds to integrins has led to the development of a number of drugs and diagnostics,while the peptide itself is used ubiquitously in bioengineering. Depending on the application and the integrin targeted,RGD can be chemically modified or replaced by a similar peptide which promotes cell adhesion.
TALeffectors are proteins secreted by some β- and γ-proteobacteria. Most of these are Xanthomonads. Plant pathogenic Xanthomonas bacteria are especially known for TALEs,produced via their type III secretion system. These proteins can bind promoter sequences in the host plant and activate the expression of plant genes that aid bacterial infection. The TALE domain responsible for binding to DNA is known to have 1.5 to 33.5 short sequences that are repeated multiple times. Each of these repeats was found to be specific for a certain base pair of the DNA. These repeats also have repeat variable residues (RVD) that can detect specific DNA base pairs. They recognize plant DNA sequences through a central repeat domain consisting of a variable number of ~34 amino acid repeats. There appears to be a one-to-one correspondence between the identity of two critical amino acids in each repeat and each DNA base in the target sequence. These proteins are interesting to researchers both for their role in disease of important crop species and the relative ease of retargeting them to bind new DNA sequences. Similar proteins can be found in the pathogenic bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum and Burkholderia rhizoxinica,as well as yet unidentified marine microorganisms. The term TALE-likes is used to refer to the putative protein family encompassing the TALEs and these related proteins.
Synthetic immunology is the rational design and construction of synthetic systems that perform complex immunological functions. Functions include using specific cell markers to target cells for destruction and or interfering with immune reactions. US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved immune system modulators include anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive agents,vaccines,therapeutic antibodies and Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists.
A living medicine is a type of biologic that consists of a living organism that is used to treat a disease. This usually takes the form of a cell or a virus that has been genetically engineered to possess therapeutic properties that is injected into a patient. Perhaps the oldest use of a living medicine is the use of leeches for bloodletting,though living medicines have advanced tremendously since that time.
Bacterial therapy is the therapeutic use of bacteria to treat diseases. Bacterial therapeutics are living medicines,and may be wild type bacteria or bacteria that have been genetically engineered to possess therapeutic properties that is injected into a patient. Other examples of living medicines include cellular therapeutics,activators of anti-tumor immunity,or synergizing with existing tools and approaches. and phage therapeutics,or as delivery vehicles for treatment,diagnosis,or imaging,complementing or synergizing with existing tools and approaches.
Tumor-homing bacteria are facultative or obligate anaerobic bacteria that are able to target cancerous cells in the body,suppress tumor growth and survive in the body for a long time even after the infection. When this type of bacteria is administered into the body,it migrates to the cancerous tissues and starts to grow,and then deploys distinct mechanisms to destroy solid tumors. Each bacteria species uses a different process to eliminate the tumor. Some common tumor homing bacteria include Salmonella,Clostridium,Bifidobacterium,Listeria,and Streptococcus. The earliest research of this type of bacteria was highlighted in 1813 when scientists began observing that patients that had gas gangrene,an infection caused by the bacteria Clostridium,were able to have tumor regressions.
A biohybrid microswimmer can be defined as a microswimmer that consist of both biological and artificial constituents,for instance,one or several living microorganisms attached to one or various synthetic parts.