Ruess Lab

Research focus

ERC Starting Grant · 2022

From single cells to microbial consortia: bridging the gaps between synthetic circuit design and emerging dynamics of heterogeneous populations

A key turning point in the evolution of life was the transition from single-cell to multicellular organisms and the optimization of fitness via division of labour and specialization. Similarly, microorganisms have evolved equivalent strategies by forming communities or consortia. Division of labour in isogenic microbial populations is often implemented by mechanisms that create or act upon population heterogeneity to diversify functionality. Rational design in synthetic biology, on the other hand, is focused on the engineering of gene circuits with deterministically predictable functionality within single cells. While synthetic biology has certainly come a long way, predictable…

From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.