Lab members

Research
Dr Sean Colloms, Research Fellow
I am using site-specific recombination, DNA transposition, and sequence-specific DNA binding to create a toolkit for Synthetic Biology, with a particular interest in metabolic pathway engineering and biological computing.
I have developed an efficient recombinase-based system to join multiple DNA fragments together in vitro. Once assembled, recombination can be to used substitute, delete or add further DNA sequences at will. I have shown how this procedure can be used for the rapid assembly and optimisation of metabolic pathways, with potential applications including sustainable production of biofuels, feedstock chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.
Together with my collaborators Marshall Stark and Susan Rosser, I have a BBSRC sLOLA to develop directional recombination systems for Synthetic Biology. In particular I will be using these systems for re-writable binary data storage and counting, biosensors and other biological computing applications.
In another project I am developing a set of regulated promoters and orthogonal transcription regulators to work as logic gates for information processing in bacteria.