UNAM Seminar: “Design Meets Evolution: Theory and Practice”, 11:00AM October 2 2024 (EN)

You are cordially invited to UNAM Nanocolloquium seminars focusing on advancements in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. The seminars bring us the most recent developments in these exciting fields. This week’s talk will be presented by Prof. Victor de Lorenzo (The Spanish National Research Council – CSIC)

Nanocolloquium series

Title: Design meets evolution: Theory and practice
Date: October 2, 2024 (Wednesday)
Time and Venue: 11:00 UNAM Conference Hall (SU-01)

Abstract:
The prevailing view of biological evolution is not unlike bricolage/pastiche/tinkering—in sharp contrast with rational engineering. Yet, different paths often lead to solutions that coincide or converge whether they emerge from naturally-occurring evolution or rationally designed. Such a conjunction—often presented as a mere anecdote— in fact reveals the ability of biological systems to physically explore solution spaces and gravitate towards information-rich attractors, which can be found through different routes. This scenario evokes one of heterotic computing, a non-conventional type of data processing in which the solution to a problem is not delivered through numerical calculations but through its embodiment in a material object. Once left to undergo a physical process the object manages a large number of parameters for reaching a multi objective optimum. The course of information is thus a physical flow and the outcome is a physical currency. The consequences of this notion for bioengineering are remarkable, as it enables solutions to multi-objective optimization challenges not yet amenable to all-rational approaches. The ensuing technical question is how to bring about hyper-diversification not only of genomic sequences but also environmental parameters for securing the desired performance of a given synthetic device. This issue will be illustrated with a number of practical cases where naturally-occurring or artificially enhanced variability was key to find ideal outcomes to otherwise intractable design hitches of interest for industrial and environmental biotechnology.

Al-ramahi et al. (2021) ssDNA recombineering boosts in vivo evolution of nanobodies displayed on bacterial surfaces. Comms Biology 4: 1169.
Tas et al. (2020) Contextual dependencies expand the re-usability of genetic inverters. Nature Comms 12: 355.
Espeso et al. (2020) An automated DIY framework for experimental evolution of Pseudomonas putida. Microb Biotechnol. 14: 2679-2685
Hueso-Gil et al. (2023) In vivo sampling of intracellular heterogeneity of Pseudomonas putida enables multiobjective optimization of genetic devices. ACS Synth Biol. 12: 1667-1676.

Akkaya et al. (2019) Evolving metabolism of 2,4-dinitrotoluene triggers SOS-independent diversification of host cells. Env Microbiol 21: 314-326

Short Bio:
Víctor de Lorenzo (Madrid, 1957) is a Chemist by training and he holds a position of Research Professor in the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), where he currently heads the Laboratory of Environmental Synthetic Biology at the National Center for Biotechnology. After his PhD at the CSIC Institute of Enzymology (1983), he worked at the Pasteur Institute (1984), the University of California at Berkeley (1985-1987), the University of Geneva (1988) and the Federal Center for Biotechnology in Braunschweig until 1991, the year in which he joined the CSIC in Madrid.

He specializes in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of soil microorganisms (particularly Pseudomonas putida) as agents for the decontamination of sites damaged by industrial waste. At present, his work explores the interface between Synthetic Biology and Environmental Biotechnology, including global-scale bioremediation interventions for counteracting climate change. In 2001 this work received the National Award Rey Jaime I for Environmental Protection. In June 2008 he was honored with the GSK International Award of the American Society for Microbiology, and in October of the same year he was granted a Grand Prix of the French Academy of Sciences. He is a member of the EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization) and the American and European Academies of Microbiology, and he has co-chaired with Anne Glover the President’s Science and Technology Council of the EC during the Barroso Administration. He served as a member of the World Economic Forum Council on Future Biotechnologies (Dubai, 2016-2018) and received a Honorary doctorate of the DTU (Lyngby, Denmark 2022).

He has published well over 450 articles in scientific journals and specialized books (https://goo.gl/M4sA5N) and he has served as advisor in diverse international panels.