Abstract

Complex signalling networks enable living cells to process information from their environment using an intricate network of regulatory interactions. These biochemical circuits function by converting an input signal (stimulus) through spatiotemporal interplay of signalling molecules (transduction) to an output response (function). Inspired by biology, we engineer a range of minimalistic, artificial signalling systems by employing a cell-free bottom-up strategy. Such simplified model systems composed of fewer species each with well-defined interactions could help isolate key molecular parameters and thus have the potential to uncover generalizable concepts. In this lecture I will discuss the influence of molecular scaffolds on caspase catalysis, retroactivity in bistable circuits and a synthetic cellular consortium that is able to communicate by DNA -based messages.

Bio: Tom de Greef studied Biomedical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e, the Netherlands), where he received his MSc degree cum laude in 2004. He then started his PhD research at the TU/e department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, where he graduated in 2008 on a thesis on novel polymeric materials based on quadruple hydrogen-bonding motifs, supervised by professors E. W. (Bert) Meijer and Rint Sijbesma. He subsequently moved to the Computational Biology group at the TU/e department of Biomedical Engineering (TU/e) headed by Prof. Peter Hilbers, for postdoctoral research on self-assembling systems from a computational perspective. In 2010, he became assistant professor and in 2016 he was promoted to associate professor. In 2013, Tom de Greef was a visiting scholar in the group of Prof. David Weitz at Harvard University (Cambridge, USA ), working on protein affinity screening using droplet microfluidics. In 2015 he received an ERC starting Grant and in 2016 an NWO VIDI grant. Tom de Greef is a core member of the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems (ICMS), a core member of the Dutch Gravitation program “Functional Molecular Systems” and a junior faculty member of the Gravitation program “Materials-Driven Regeneration”. He received the 2017 Cram Lehn Pedersen prize in supramolecular chemistry, and in 2018 he was awarded a Microsoft PhD scholarship for the development of a DNA computer.