Accelerating Evolution - Prof. Chang Liu

Dr. Chang Liu, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the University of California, Irvine, has transformed traditional yeast culture methods into an engine to accelerate evolution in order to understand the drivers of selection and gain the ability view fitness not as a crossroads, but a landscape--a mutational topology that he and his collaborators are able to navigate. ACE, or automated continuous evolution, combines the Liu Lab’s orthogonal replication system, OrthoRep, with the robotic culturing system eVOVLR, developed by the Khalil Lab at Boston University, to automate evolution. Together, they can synthesize new biology; build novel enzymes and proteins to serve multiple industries; and, even help us fight not just today’s pandemic but tomorrow’s pandemics as well. A story of discovery in the fast-paced world of synthetic biology. This is the TomorrowScale podcast, hosted by Justin Briggs.

ACE pre-print on bioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.21.960328

Liu Lab at UC Irvine: https://liulab.com/

Khalil Lab at BU: https://www.bu.edu/khalillab/

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The TomorrowScale Podcast was created to showcase scientists and entrepreneurs who are building science-based businesses, and to hear their stories from the benches and in the trenches of research & development. The views expressed by the host and guests are their own, and the content of this show should not be considered legal, tax, or investing advice. Thanks to our guests for sharing their time and knowledge with us. Thank you for listening. Please science responsibly.