Projects
Final projects:
- Stress-Chromatic Mycelium: Engineering Ganoderma lucidum to Visually Report Mechanical Stress via Indigoidine Biosynthesis I am carrying over some previous experience working with mycelium over here Abstract Mycelium-based composites are emerging as sustainable alternatives to conventional materials in furniture and architecture, yet no current bio-based structural material can non-destructively report its internal stress history after fabrication. This project proposes engineering Ganoderma lucidum to function as a living mechanical stress reporter by coupling the cell wall integrity (CWI) signaling pathway to heterologous indigoidine biosynthesis. The central hypothesis is that placing the bpsA gene from Streptomyces lavendulae — encoding the non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (~141 kDa) responsible for indigoidine production — under the control of the experimentally validated GlSwi6B-responsive GL18134 promoter element will drive spatially localized blue pigmentation in hyphal zones experiencing elevated cell wall stress, including mechanical compression. Critically, the CWI pathway responds broadly to osmotic, heat, oxidative, and mechanical stress; demonstrating mechanical specificity over these other stressors is a central experimental objective, not an assumed outcome. Aim 1 establishes proof-of-concept by designing and ordering a genomic-integration construct from Twist Bioscience (pGl_GL18134_bpsA_integration, 8,375 bp), transforming G. lucidum, and measuring indigoidine production under compression versus osmotic and heat stress controls using the Spark Plate Reader. Aim 2 optimizes spatial resolution, stress specificity, and pigment retention through post-processing. Aim 3 envisions deployment of stress-chromatic mycelium panels as a scalable, non-destructive diagnostic platform for bio-based architecture. This work sits at the intersection of synthetic biology, materials science, and sustainable design, with direct relevance to partners including MycoWorks, BioFabricate, Ginkgo Bioworks, and Twist Bioscience.
from Part D — Group Brainstorm on Bacteriophage Engineering (Individual submission — solo student)
- Project Goal The primary goal of this project is to increase the structural stability of the MS2 bacteriophage lysis protein (L-protein), with a secondary goal of reducing its dependency on the host chaperone DnaJ, while preserving its capacity to lyse bacterial cells through membrane pore formation.