Engineering Genetic Circuits

Course Overview

With the sequencing of the human genome and the genomes of other organisms, we now have a list of the parts that make up these genetic systems. Using this information, researchers are now able to engineer synthetic genetic circuits for a range of applications in the environmental, medical, and energy domains. Crucial to these efforts' success is the development of methods and tools for designing these genetic circuits. While inspiration can be drawn from experiences with electronic design, design with a genetic material poses several challenges. Genetic circuits are composed of very noisy components making their behavior more asynchronous, analog, and stochastic in nature. This specialization presents recent research into new methods and software tools for the modeling, analysis, and design of genetic circuits that are enabling this exciting new field of synthetic biology. As in the sequencing of the human genome, collaborations between engineers and biologists will be essential to the success of synthetic biology. Therefore, the goal of this specialization is to facilitate these collaborations by teaching both the biological and engineering principles necessary for such research.