Computational Design of Nonlinear Functions using Nucleic Acids - Microsoft Research Voucher 16000070 - Engineering - Synthetic Biology

Lead Research Organisation: University of Warwick
Department Name: Sch of Engineering

Abstract

This project aims to significantly advance the field of synthetic biology by introducing new paradigms and techniques for programming biological systems and for understanding the computations performed by living cells. Synthetic biology is truly a great revolution in the offing but has failed to scale well on programmable complexity. One reason for this failure has been the overemphasis on digital paradigms. In this project, we demonstrate how to get rid of this limitation by advancing the state-of-the-art in the DNA strand displacement (DSD) theory to synthesize programmable hybrid dynamical circuits using DNA, RNA, and enzymes. Our approach lays the foundation for a unifying framework for the design of computational nucleic acid devices and helps answer previously unexplored important questions such as "How long will a given biomolecular circuit perform reliably in the wet-lab settings?" and "How robust is a given biomolecular circuit to the interference created by the extraneous cellular reactions in the wet-lab settings?" The computational nucleic acid devices synthesized using our approach show great potential for enabling a broad range of biotechnology applications, including smart probes for molecular biology research, in vitro assembly of complex compounds, high-precision in vitro disease diagnosis and, ultimately, programmable sense-and-respond systems inside living cells. This diversity of applications is supported by a range of implementation strategies, including nucleic acid strand displacement, localization to substrates, and the use of enzymes with polymerase, nickase, and exonuclease functionality. However, existing computational design tools are unable to account for these strategies in a unified manner. Hence, we also code our theoretical approach a logic programming language that allows a broad range of computational nucleic acid systems to be designed and analyzed. The language extends standard logic programming with a novel equational theory to express nucleic acid molecular motifs. It automatically identifies matching motifs present in the full system, in order to apply a specified transformation expressed as a logical rule or as a dynamical system output. The language is sufficiently expressive to encode the semantics of nucleic strand displacement systems with complex topologies, together with computation performed by a broad range of enzymes, and is readily extensible to new implementation strategies. The language development is in collaboration with Microsoft Research (Cambridge, UK) and has resulted in the software "Visual DSD" that facilitates a user-friendly in silico design of such biomolecular circuits - the software "Visual DSD" runs on both Windows and MacOS platforms, and can be coupled to other computational platforms such as MATLAB and Python. One of the core problems in the synthesis of such biomolecular circuits is the choice of kinetic rates. Recently, Nielsen et al at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA) have developed the platform "Cello" for an automated designed of such circuits. All the same, the design procedure of Cello is limited to only Boolean circuits and does not make use of artificial intelligence and public domain metadata to increase the accuracy and the range of operating conditions over which the circuits function as desired. We demonstrate how the novel biochemical insights developed in this project can help synthesize non-Boolean circuits (such as a low-pass filter or ratio computation or logarithm) and hybrid systems using DNA/RNA/enzymes and to dramatically increase the yield of cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) systems in the wet-lab. Such a translational impact of the project will be achieved through collaborations with Microsoft Research (Cambridge, UK) and Arbor Bioscience (Ann Arbor, MI).

Publications

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Studentship Projects

Project Reference Relationship Related To Start End Student Name
EP/P510695/1 01/10/2016 31/12/2021
1912307 Studentship EP/P510695/1 02/10/2017 30/12/2021 Iuliia Eyriay
 
Description Automated Biomolecular Circuits Design 
Organisation Microsoft Research
Department Microsoft Research Cambridge
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Joint work on extending the functionality of Visual DSD project, in particular, design of the compiler able to translate any arbitrary transfer function into ready-to-use Visual DSD code.
Collaborator Contribution Providing their expertise and invaluable input
Impact Joint publications: 1) I. Zarubiieva, A. Phillips, and V. Kulkarni, \Mitigation of leakage in DNA strand displacement reactions", in Synthetic Biology UK 2019, Coventry, UK, December 2019 2) P. Navajas Helguero, I. Zarubiieva, A. Phillips, and V. Kulkarni, \ART: Automatic Representation Translator for Idealised Nucleic Acid Circuits", in BioMedEng19: The UK's largest gathering of Biomedical Engineers, Medical Engineers and Bioengineers, London, UK, September 2019 3) I. Zarubiieva, F. Mantellino, A. Phillips, and V. Kulkarni, \A method for compiling arbitrary transfer functions to molecular circuits", in IWBDA 2019: International Workshop on Bio-Design Automation, Cambridge, UK, July 2019 + one more paper is about to be submitted
Start Year 2017
 
Title An automated method for compiling arbitrary transfer functions to molecular circuits 
Description The designed compiler allows to automatically translate any arbitrary transfer function into a ready-to-use Visual DSD code. 
Type Of Technology New/Improved Technique/Technology 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact We have shown how the bottom-up architecture of Visual DSD can be adequately generalised to implement not only different algorithms but also to synthesize new conceptual modules on the fly for LTI systems. Our approach can be generalised for dynamic nonlinear systems as well if the input is presented in a different way, for example, by a block diagram. Besides speeding up the in silico design of DSD-based circuits, our compilers also increase the outreach of DNA computation to users who might only be comfortable with mathematical models and MATLAB/Python. 
URL https://www.iwbdaconf.org/2019/docs/IWBDA19Proceedings.pdf
 
Description Presentation of my research to students and staff of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (KPI), Ukraine, as a part of Erasmus+ programme 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Over 20 students and staff members of KPI attended a presentation of my research, followed by a Q&A session, which increased their interest in the area and resulted in 3-month project of MSc student on a related topic.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019