Building real-time control for engineered biological systems
Scientists can engineer living cells to perform useful tasks, from producing medicines and sustainable chemicals to detecting disease. Unlike traditional engineered systems, living cells are constantly changing as they grow, making their behavior difficult to predict and control.
Engineered living cells can perform tasks like producing medicines and detecting diseases, but their behavior is unpredictable as they grow and evolve. Dr. Chelsea Hu, an assistant professor at Texas A&M University, is designing tools to better understand and control these dynamic biological systems. As engineered cells divide and grow, they alter their function, making it hard to consistently direct their behavior or optimize production processes.
To tackle this, Hu's research integrates device engineering, real-time feedback control, and mathematical modeling. The goal is to give researchers practical tools to study engineered cell behavior and create more reliable biological systems. By using optogenetics—the technique of using light to control cellular activities—Hu's team developed the LED-Embedded Microplate for Optogenetic Studies (LEMOS).
This platform, published in ACS Synthetic Biology, makes real-time optogenetic feedback control more accessible, allowing researchers to adjust light inputs continuously and maintain consistent control as cells grow. LEMOS combines programmable LED lights with continuous measurements of cell growth and gene expression. This enables researchers to respond dynamically to how cells change, improving production yield, reducing cellular stress, and enhancing the reliability of biological manufacturing.
Additionally, Hu's team created Gene Expression Across Growth Stages (GEAGS), a mathematical model that explains how cell growth affects gene expression and the performance of feedback control systems. By accounting for these changes, LEMOS and GEAGS offer complementary tools for studying engineered cells in dynamic environments.
The research addresses a central challenge in synthetic biology: living systems are constantly changing, so control strategies must adapt to these fluctuations. This work could improve the reliability and efficiency of biological manufacturing, which uses engineered cells to produce products like medicines, fuels, and specialty chemicals.
The same control principles could also aid in designing therapeutic cells that respond dynamically to changes within the human body.
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