Synthetic biology is a field of science that aims to design and construct biological systems with new or improved functions through the integration of engineering and biology. It involves the design and construction of artificial DNA sequences, as well as the manipulation of existing biological systems to create new functions. The ultimate goal of synthetic biology is to create useful products and systems that can address various societal needs, such as better medicines, improved biofuels, and new technologies for environmental remediation.

Synthetic biology draws on a range of disciplines, including molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, physics, and computer science. Researchers in synthetic biology use a variety of tools and techniques, such as genetic engineering, gene synthesis, genome editing, and microfluidics, to build new biological systems and modify existing ones. They also use mathematical models and simulations to guide the design process and to predict the behavior of complex biological systems.

One of the key challenges in synthetic biology is to ensure that the engineered systems are safe, reliable, and predictable. Researchers in synthetic biology must balance the potential benefits of new applications with the potential risks to human health and the environment. To address these challenges, synthetic biologists are developing new approaches to biocontainment, biosafety, and bioethics.

Overall, synthetic biology has the potential to revolutionize the way we address many of the important challenges facing our society. By harnessing the power of biology, researchers in synthetic biology are creating new tools, technologies, and products that can improve our health, our environment, and our quality of life.

The major focus of the SynBioLab is to understand the regulation of transcription machinery in pathogenic bacteria. Here we have focused on two major pathogenic bacterial species, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Both species cause significant threat to human health and many drug resistant varieties circulate among humans.

M. tuberculosis is a truly mysterious microorganism to science. Although it is one of the oldest diseases that has been associated with human civilizations, we still have more questions than answers. In the quest of shedding light on the gene regulatory mechanisms, we came across some even puzzling regulators; MoyR and XydR. Thanusha worked on MoyR, a GntR type transcriptional regulator which is a probable regulator in the polyketide synthesis pathway. Sujanthe’s research work was focused on understanding the regulatory mechanisms of XydR, a MarR family transcriptional regulator. Interestingly, XydR responds to a specific type of xylan; deepening the mystery of M. tuberculosis. Madhawa worked on demonstrating the xylanase under regulation is an active protein in this pathogenic bacterium. Understanding these regulatory mechanisms would provide us with novel antibiotic targets to fight against the global health threat of tuberculosis.

P. aeruginosa, a commonly found environmental microbe as well as a nosocomial pathogen, hosts an interesting alkane degradation system. This could be harnessed in industrial bioconversion of alkanes as well as bioremediation. In the process of bioengineering bacteria, it is important that we understand and have in hand a mechanism to control these enzymatic pathways. Harshani started off a project to understand the regulatory mechanism of AlkB2 of P. aeruginosa where she described a GntR type transcriptional regulator that responds to alkanals and controls the expression of alkB2. Asma and Prabashi worked on understanding the structure and mechanism of AlkB2 and initiated the assembly of a bioengineered modeled organism for alkane degradation. Vidumini and Yasara continues this work to build a model system to investigate the industrial and bioremediation activities of these systems and searching for novel pathways to build more efficient systems.

SynBioLab ventures into many diverse fields with its national and international collaborators. These projects range from organometallic and peptide anticancer-drug-lead discovery, Identification of emerging agents, cancer biomarker discovery, herbal drug testing, dairy diseases, bacterial communities in native curd production, nanomaterial assisted drug discovery, materials research to field studies and many more.

Collaborators

Prof. Theshini Perera – University of Sri Jayewardenapura, Sri Lanka

Prof. Chandrika Nanayakkara – University of Colombo

Prof. Jennifer Perera – University of Colombo

Dr. Laksiri Weerasinghe – University of Sri Jayewardenapura, Sri Lanka

Dr. Chinthika P. Gunasekara – University of Sri Jayewardenapura, Sri Lanka

Dr. Buddhika Dassanayake – University of Peradeniya

Dr. Darshana U Kottahachchi – Kothalawala Defense University

Prof. Genji Kurisu – Osaka University, Japan

Prof. Vittorio Venturi – ICGEB Threaste, Italy

Prof. Olav Rueppell, University of Alberta, Canada