BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//ZContent.net//ZapCalLib 1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Learning What to Write: Applying DNA Synthesis and Sequencing Techn
 ologies to Improve Strain Design and Construction
LOCATION:Anatomy/Zoology Building W118
TZID:America/Denver
DTSTART:20124101T000000
UID:2026-08-19-23-59-20@natsci.colostate.edu
DTSTAMP:20260819T235920
Description:The era of genome engineering has arrived. Synthetic DNA techno
 logies can now generate sufficient DNA to construct tens of thousands of g
 enes in parallel\; enough to synthesize several complete microbial genomes
  at the same time. Genome sequencing has advanced to the point where so sy
 nthesized artificial genomes could be completely sequenced in &lt\; 1 day 
 for about $1000 using a benchtop sequencer. These technologies were used i
 n the creation of the first synthetic genome\, which was successfully appl
 ied in the construction of the first viable cell (species?) controlled by 
 a man-made genome. Such genome-construction technology was first applied t
 o the copying of existing genomes. Future applications will seek to develo
 p artificial genomes that will be designed to encode industrially relevant
  functions\; such as production of biofuels\, sustainable chemicals\, phar
 maceuticals\, industrial enzymes\, etc. Such applications will require tha
 t we are able to not only identify genes encoding functions that enable su
 ch applications but also combinations of such genes that result in optimal
  organism performance. The size of combinatorial mutation space\, however\
 , is well beyond what can possibly be searched in laboratory timescales. D
 eveloping new methods and approaches that enable the efficient search for 
 such genes and gene combinations is a major focus of our research efforts.
  We envision this process as requiring three key steps\, i) the mapping of
  genetic modifications onto a trait of interest\, ii) the analysis of mapp
 ing data to assign relevance to each genetic modification\, and iii) the e
 xhaustive searching of combinations of the most relevant subset of genetic
  modifications to identify combinations that optimize expression of the de
 sired trait. We have developed several methods relevant for each of these 
 steps. This presentation will describe such methods and their most recent 
 application to improve a range of traits relevant to sustainable fuels and
  chemicals production. 4:00 pm
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR