NSCPHD1145 Summer course on Synthetic biology in photosynthetic organisms - PhotoSYNTHETICbiology

Volume 2014/2015
Content
Synthetic biology is the engineering of biology: the deliberate (re)design and construction of novel biological and biologically based parts, devices and systems to perform new functions for useful purposes, that draws on principles elucidated from biology and engineering.
In this context photosynthetic organisms like cyanobacteria, algae and plants are interesting since  these holds the promise for truly sustainable production of high-value compounds like pharmaceutical, commodity chemicals or even fuels. Traditionally, the organisms of choice for synthetic biology have been E. coli and yeast and the use of photosynthetic organisms is a new and rapidly developing field where University of Copenhagen has a lead. In the future, synthetic biology in plant science will not only have a great potential both for redirecting and engineering of new biosynthetic pathways but also for improving yield of our crop plants.

Scientific content
1. Choice of organisms (chassis): cyanobacteria, algae, higher plants, chloroplasts, non-oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria.
2. The parts: Promoters for regulated expression, transcript and protein stabilization and modifications, vectors, neutral integration, DNA synthesis.
3. Cloning and high-through put methodologies: cloning methods, gene stacking, gene replacements
4. Photobioreactors: types (closed, open ponds, etc), design of growth regimes (continous versus batch), harvesting methods and product recovery.
5. Downstream processing: product extraction, stabilization and quality control.
6. Ethics in synthetic biology.
7. Safety and regulations.
8. Intellectual property rights (IPR).
Learning Outcome
We expect that participation in this course will enable PhD students:

1) to get an up-to-date understanding of current topics and methods within synthetic biology in photosynthetic organisms,   
2) to get hands-on experimental experience in design and execution of light-driven assays and methodologies,
3) get an overview of organisms (chassis) to use and building an inventory of DNA parts for photosynthetic organisms,
4) to discuss their projects with experts in the field, and
5) to obtain a network within the field.
In preparation for the course, students should prepare and bring a poster (A3 size) about their work. The posters will be presented on the first day of the course.
Lectures, exercises, student presentations.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 40
  • Preparation
  • 25
  • Seminar
  • 10
  • Total
  • 75
Credit
3 ECTS
Type of assessment
Course participation under invigilation