Non-Native Small-Molecule Biosensors for Screening and Selection of High-Performance Cell Factories

Our research addresses the current needs for high-throughput screening of candidate chemical production from engineered microorganisms. Using non-native in vivo protein-based sensors we facilitate the screening and detection of microbial cell factories with improved production titers. The protein-based biosensors couple intra- or extracellular levels of candidate chemicals with growth, or by fluorescent reporter gene activity. Generally, we aim for simple, orthogonal and specific biosensors, applicable to microorganisms such as yeast and bacteria. For this session we will present the design optimization of both biosensor expression level, dynamic range and the design of synthetic promoters for orthogonal transcriptional regulation of growth and reporter gene outputs upon the intra- or extracellular accumulation of candidate chemicals.