Synthetic Biology and tools for engineering plant form
Synthetic Biology is an emerging field that employs engineering principles for constructing genetic systems. The approach is based on the use of well characterised and reusable components, and numerical models for the design of biological circuits.
We have constructed a series of tools for controlling gene misexpression and marking specific cells in growing plants. We are building a new generation of genetic circuits that incorporate intercellular communication, and could be used to generate self-organised behaviour at the cellular scale. These could be used to reprogram plant development and morphogenesis.
We have constructed a series of tools for controlling gene misexpression and marking specific cells in growing plants. We are building a new generation of genetic circuits that incorporate intercellular communication, and could be used to generate self-organised behaviour at the cellular scale. These could be used to reprogram plant development and morphogenesis.
Marchantia development
Description of a new system for analysis and engineering of plant morphogenesis - with unprecedented advantages for microscopy, quantitative visualisation, computer modelling and genetic manipulation. Access complete bibliographic resources, scientific posters, links to active labs and web resources and a forum for scientific exchange at www.marchantia.org. See background about Marchantia work in our lab.
The Marchantiotron
Want to work on a simple plant system, but don't have access to plant growth facilities? Do not fret. Here's a description of a low-cost DIY culture cabinet for Marchantia propagation with Arduino microcontroller-regulated LED illumination in a hacked Ikea bookcase. See the Marchantia Exchange site.
Research publication: Computational modeling of synthetic microbial biofilms
Timothy J Rudge*, Paul J Steiner*, Andrew Phillips, and Jim Haseloff. ACS Synthetic Biology, 2012. (* equal first authors). This paper presents a computational method for modeling synthetic microbial biofilms, which combines three-dimensional biophysical models of individual cells with models of genetic regulation and inter-cellular signaling. The method uses parallel GPU architectures for acceleration. DOI: 10.1021/sb300031n,
CellModeller4
The latest generation of the software for physico-genetic modelling of cellular systems. Now interactive, with GPU acceleration and new physical models for microbial and plant cell growth. Software development by Tim Rudge and PJ Steiner, with earlier contributions from Jonathan Mackenzie and Lionel Dupuy (Rudge and Haseloff, 2005; Dupuy, Mackenzie, Rudge and Haseloff, 2007)
Research publication: Integrated genetic and computation methods for in planta cytometry
Fernán Federici*, Lionel Dupuy*, Laurent Laplaze, Marcus Heisler & Jim Haseloff, Nature Methods, 9, 483–485, 2012. (* equal first authors).The paper describes the coupled use of specifically localized fluorescent gene markers and image processing for automated quantitative analysis of cell growth and genetic activity across living plant tissues. The procedure, which we term in planta cytometry, allows the measurement of cellular properties in intact tissue, while retaining the cellular context for further studies.
Haseloff laboratory
Information about the people and work in the laboratory.
Slide shows, lecture notes, PDFs and resources for teaching in plant development, and iGEM.
