Synthetic biology through directed evolution
Biology is a good first draft of what is possible
Biology is extensive but not thorough. Through directed evolution (DE), we harness evolution itself (nature’s optimization engine) to improve functional biopolymers, to create new-to-nature capabilities, and to deepen our understanding of biology.
Part of the Medicinal Chemistry group at the Rega Institute, KU Leuven.
Add hero image here — lab bench, plates, or a structure render on a dark background.
People trained
37
Master’s students, doctoral and postdoctoral researchers who came through the group.
Ongoing research programmes
Our research spans fundamental, methodological, and applied questions, drawing on multiple disciplines to answer them.
Directed evolution platforms and selection technology
4 papers · 2 open tools
Cycles of diversification and selection bypass what we do not yet understand: a single experiment can sample over a billion designs and return the few that work. We work on all of it — the theory, the technology, and the applications — to make a design–build–test–learn cycle that actually turns over in weeks rather than years.
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Selection is at the heart of directed evolution. However, because of the multiple factors that affect it and the high technical barrier for most methods, it remains perceived as a high-risk methodology. Our work tackles the key barriers to making DE more accessible, more interpretable, and more robust.
Papers from this programme
DNA and XNA processing enzymes
11 papers
Polymerases and ligases are among the most fundamental tools in molecular biology; and among the hardest enzymes to engineer. Despite decades of study, their dynamics and specificity still make them notoriously difficult to redesign.
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In parallel we use orthogonality diagnostically: what breaks when a system is moved to a new host tells us which parts of the Central Dogma are genuinely conserved and which are local convention.
Papers from this programme
- The XNA world: progress towards replicable synthetic genetic polymers — Curr Opin Chem Biol, 2012
Functional nucleic acids
6 papers · 1 dataset
Nucleic acids, natural or synthetic, can fold into specific three-dimensional structures, giving rise to functional ligands (aptamers) and in vivo regulatory elements such as riboswitches and terminators.
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Microcins are made by the producing cell’s own machinery, which makes them tractable: change the enzymes and you change the molecule. We are mapping which modifications matter for activity and which are tolerant to substitution, then evolving the modifying enzymes to widen that range. The same chemistry gives peptide backbones with unusual stability, which is where the biomaterials interest comes from.
Papers from this programme