- Aug. 2023: You can read about our vision and recent development to build synthetic cells via evolution on Syntheticcell.eu.
- Jun. 2023: The lab is relocating to Toulouse Biotechnology Institute, France. Research is still going on in the lab at the TU Delft with NWO-funded people.
- May 2023: Our latest paper “Imaging flow cytometry for high-throughput phenotyping of synthetic cells” was featured in the cover of ACS Synthetic Biology. Congratulations Elisa and Ana!
- Apr 2023: Zhanar Abil, a former postdoc in the lab, was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida. Congratulations Zhanar!
- Mar 2023: Clonal amplification of DNA in liposomes boosts phenotypic output from a low-copy number of genes, enabling the use of evolution as a tool for engineering synthetic cells. Read about our CADGE technology: article by Ana and Zhanar.
- Mar 2023: Lab trip in Toulouse, France! Thanks to the people at Toulouse Biotechnology Institute that hosted us and contributed to the scientific program.
- Mar 2023: We learned the passing away of Andreea Stan, a second year PhD student in the la
b. Our thoughts go to her family and friends. We will remember Andreea as a talented and passionate young scientist. She was awarded a Casimir-NanoFront PhD position in 2021 and a Casimir PhD travel grant in 2023. Andreea made an important scientific contribution by developing a platform for the continuous evolution of a self-replicating DNA. - Jan 2023: Membrane-anchored FtsZ is not sufficient for division. See Elisa’s paper.
- Nov 2022: Christophe was appointed as a Professor at Toulouse Biotechnology Institute (TBI-INSA), Toulouse, France. Lots of changes ahead, with the same ambition to build a synthetic cell.
- Apr 2022: Elisa defended her PhD with cum laude, congratulations !!
- Mar 2022: Marijn joined our group as a new PhD student, welcome back!
- Feb 2022: Ana was awarded an EMBO Scientific Exchange Grant, congrats!
- Sep 2021: Andreea joined our lab as a new PhD student!
- Sep 2021: Bacterial microtubule work is now published in ACS Synthetic Biology. Congratulations Johannes and Anne!
- Mar 2021: Duco defended his PhD, congratulations dr. Blanken!!
- Jan 2021: Our work on the expression of 32 translation factor proteins in PURE system is published in Scientific Reports. Congratulations to Anne and the other co-authors!
- Dec 2020: Goodbye and thank you, Zhanar and Wouter !! Best of luck for the future.
- Aug 2020: Anne and David have left the lab for new horizons. Thank you both for your scientific contribution and for being two great team members. Best wishes.
- Aug 2020: 3 papers accepted for publication this month. Congratulations to everyone involved!
- Jun 2020: Johannes successfully defended his PhD, congratulations!
- May 2020: Wouter joined our lab as a PhD student, welcome!
- Nov 2019: Interview of Elisa about the Min article here.
- Nov 2019: Our Min paper is published in Nature Communications.
Read also the paper highlight on the TU Delft News.
- Oct 2019: Alicia successfully defended her PhD, Congratulations!
- Oct 2019: Alicia’s work on the SN-38 drug is posted on bioRxiv.
- Apr 2019: Our latest results on the PURE system are published in Phys. Biol.
- Sep 2018: Zhanar Abil was awarded a LEaDing Fellowship and joined the lab as a postdoc.
- June 2018: Interview of Pauline about our DNA replication article published in New Scientist.
- Apr. 2018: Our study on DNA replication is published.
Self-replication of DNA by its encoded proteins in liposome-based synthetic cells
Pauline van Nies, Ilja Westerlaken, Duco Blanken, Margarita Salas, Mario Mencia and Christophe Danelon
Pauline van Nies, Ilja Westerlaken, Duco Blanken, Margarita Salas, Mario Mencia and Christophe Danelon
Nat Commun. 2018 Apr 20;9(1):1583. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03926-1. (link).
The central dogma of biology was formulated in the 1950’s and describes the flow of genetic information as a universal property of living cells. In this report, we reconstructed DNA replication, transcription and translation, the three pillars of the central dogma, inside synthetic liposome compartments. Figure legend: Fluorescence confocal image of micrometer-sized phospholipid vesicles, called liposomes. Red channel, membrane dye; Green channel, DNA dye. DNA amplification is visualized as bright green spots in the lumen of liposomes.
Read also the article on TU Delft News.
- May 2017: Want to know more about our Minimal Cell project? Watch this video by Alicia and Jonas (YouTube).
- Nov. 2016: ‘Journey to a PhD’, see interview of Pauline in TU Delta (article).
- Sep. 2016: Andrew’s paper in PLoS One. Read highlights on TU Delft News and on [C2W] (‘platform for professionals in chemistry & life sciences’, in Dutch).
- Christophe on TEDx, Dec. 2015
- Lab featured in de Volkskrant, 12 Sep. 2015 (article in Dutch)
- Lab featured in the Dutch newspaper DE TELEGRAAF (zaterdag 20 september 2014).
- Lab featured in the TU Delft DELTA, 30 September 2013 (link to article here):
