Team:MIT

Tissues by Design

Our project focuses on genetically programming tissue self-construction to achieve specific patterns of cell differentiation (initially with fluorescence, ultimately with cell fate regulators). This is accomplished through our synthetic genetic circuits, which incorporate our engineered cell-cell communication pathways, intracellular information processing circuits, and cell-cell adhesion. Through engineered control of these mechanisms, we are investigating how programmed local rules of interactions between cells can lead to the emergence of desired global patternings.

Specifically, we've developed a modular juxtacrine cell-cell signaling platform, using Notch and Delta proteins. Below is an animation depicting showing the Notch-Delta interaction leading to the cleavage of the Notch intracellular domain, which enters the nucleus and leads to the expression of cadherins, which cause cells to adhere to similarly expressing cells.