Early Career Researchers Meet, Greet & Talks

Join our monthly meets to meet fellow Early Career Researchers from across the University interested in biology, engineering, design, computer science, bioethics and more. This is a great opportunity to meet ECRs from other schools and departments, share knowledge and ideas, establish connections and collaborations and find out more about EngBio activities such as funding calls and support.

Each session will host 1-2 lightening talks from ECRs covering research, tools & technologies, and fields & applications of synthetic and engineering biology. This will be followed by informal discussion (and free food and drink!).

This month's event will be held Monday 9 December, 12pm at the West Hub, Room East 1.

Honghao Su, Dept. of Plant Sciences

Title: Evolution and engineering of an Asteraceae oxidosqualene cyclase

Bio: Honghao Su is a fourth-year PhD student in Nicola Patron group and he is interested in plant metabolic engineering and protein design. He got a BA in Natural Sciences Tripos at University of Cambridge in 2021 and did his Part II project at Department of Plant Sciences. He started his PhD with Nicola at the Earlham Institute in Norwich at the same year and moved back to Cambridge as a visiting PhD student earlier this year. During his PhD, he is investigating the evolution of product specificity of an enzyme involved in production of anti-inflammatory compounds and improving the solubility of it using protein design methods.

And

Juliette Bucci, Dept. of Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology

Title: Enzyme-Responsive DNA Condensates

Membrane-less compartments and organelles are widely acknowledged for their role in regulating cellular processes, and there is an urgent need to harness their full potential as both structural and functional elements of synthetic cells. Here, we demonstrate that the activity of nucleic-acid cleaving enzymes can be localized within DNA-based membrane-less compartments by sequestering the respective DNA or RNA substrates. Reaction-diffusion processes lead to complex nonequilibrium patterns, dependent on enzyme concentration. By arresting similar dynamic patterns, we spatially organize different substrates in concentric subcompartments, which can be then selectively addressed by different enzymes, demonstrating spatial distribution of enzymatic activity.

Bio: Juliette Bucci holds a BSc and MSc in Chemistry from the University of Parma (Italy). She then completed her PhD in DNA nanotechnology under the supervision of Prof. Francesco Ricci at the University of Rome (Italy). During her PhD, she focused on developing strategies for enzyme-mediated temporal control in DNA-based systems. Following her interest in DNA nanotechnology and synthetic biology, Juliette spent a period as a PhD researcher in Prof. Lorenzo Di Michele’s group at the University of Cambridge, where she developed enzyme-responsive DNA condensates as synthetic cell models. Currently, she is working on the development of nucleic acid-based synthetic cells, as a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Di Michele’s lab in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.

For questions of queries, please contact Vicky Reid at coordinator@engbio.cam.ac.uk.