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SUMMARY:Design of Self-Organising Circuits for Multicellular Systems - Tim
  Rudge
DTSTART:20110610T120000Z
DTEND:20110610T123000Z
UID:TALK30698@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Suzy Stoodley
DESCRIPTION:Multicellular organisms are produced and maintained by coordin
 ation of individual cell behaviours and properties\, leading to specificat
 ion of cell types\, formation of morphology\, and functional specialisatio
 n. Since all cells are genetically identical\, the systems that give rise 
 to multicellularity are distributed and self-organising. We know that inte
 rcellular signals\, and downstream genetic regulation\, can lead to spatia
 l/temporal patterns of gene expression. In turn\, expression of particular
  genes can result in variation in growth properties in different cells. I 
 am interested in designing synthetic systems that produce patterns of gene
  expression\, and using those patterns to generate novel morphologies by i
 nducing differential growth properties.\n\nMy approach is to develop simpl
 e modular circuits\, which can then be composed into more complex hierarch
 ical systems.  Using confocal microscopy and computational methods\, I hav
 e developed tools for analysing and modelling the co-organisation of patte
 rns and morphology at the cellular scale in bacteria (B. subtillis\, E. co
 li) and plants (Arabidopsis\, Marchantia). Although bacteria are unicellul
 ar\, they do exhibit organised gene expression and morphology in biofilms 
 and colonies. Combined with their rapid growth and relative ease of modifi
 cation\, this makes them an ideal model or prototyping system for engineer
 ing. Design of plant-based systems is then reduced to the translation from
  a working bacterial prototype\, which is aided by modelling. I will prese
 nt these methods\, and describe how I will apply them to design\, implemen
 t\, and test novel self-organising morphogenetic systems in bacteria\, and
  show some possibilities for translation to plants.
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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