Cybergenetics: From Theory to Therapy

Venue: University of Cape Town

Abstract: The ability to program living cells with designed feedback circuits is transforming biotechnology and medicine. Cybergenetics unites control theory and synthetic biology to endow cells with regulatory functions once limited to engineered systems. In this lecture, I will describe how theoretical insights into feedback and adaptation are being translated into the design and realization of genetic control circuits that operate reliably within the noisy, nonlinear environment of living cells. I will present examples of synthetic feedback architectures implemented in both bacterial and mammalian systems, where precise regulation of gene expression enables new levels of performance in cellular homeostasis. Finally, I will discuss how these same principles are being applied to create therapeutic cells capable of autonomously sensing disease cues and restoring physiological balance. Together, these advances chart a path from the mathematics of feedback to the engineering of adaptive, intelligent cell-based therapies.

Co-hosted by SACAC and CeBER