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CORDIS

directed EVOlution in DROPS

Descrizione del progetto

L’evoluzione diretta delle proteine in un batter d’occhio

Sono stati necessari miliardi di anni di evoluzione naturale per generare le macromolecole che conosciamo oggi, tramite cicli di mutazione e selezione. La simulazione di questo processo in laboratorio ha il potenziale di produrre nuove proteine o enzimi di interesse per applicazioni mediche e industriali. A tal fine, il progetto EVOdrops, finanziato dall’UE, propone di introdurre un metodo rapido per la generazione di diversità genetica congiuntamente a un approccio basato sulla microfluidica per effettuare lo screening e la selezione di varianti enzimatiche di interesse. Il progetto riunisce esperti nei settori dell’ingegneria di proteine e della microfluidica, che formeranno giovani ricercatori in applicazioni di biotecnologia e biomedicina.

Obiettivo

Natural evolution is a powerful process that has given rise to the functionally diverse set of proteins present in all living systems. Repetitive rounds of mutation, selection and amplification have optimised nature’s catalysts, the enzymes, to perform an enormous range of different reactions. However, natural evolution has driven the optimisation of enzymes subjected to living functions of microorganisms, according to ill-defined and fluctuating external conditions and is not suitable
for industrial processes since it lacks of control of selection pressure. In EVOdrops, we will use directed evolution to overcome these limitations. It is a synthetic, man-made approach of evolution, aiming at improving living systems based on predefined needs, controlling the external selection pressure. While natural evolution took billions of years to optimise
macromolecules, directed evolution – to be efficient in an industrial process – requires both the generation of genetic diversity and ultra-high throughput screening capabilities to recover the variants of interest. We will develop and optimise these tools using the ground-breaking potential of droplet-based microfluidics for high-throughput experimentation and the
fine control of gene library construction. EVOdrops, a European training network, will bring together the leading research scientists, laboratories and industries in Europe with outstanding expertise in protein engineering and microfluidics and 13 early stage researchers. We will offer an extensive multi- and interdisciplinary training to ensure that they can solve these urgent and unmet challenges in biotechnology and biomedicine. We will use a multidisciplinary approach combining soft matter, microfluidics and chemical biology to design solutions for the selection of new enzymes of industrial and therapeutic interest. In the future, our approaches can be generalised to challenges involving high-throughput miniaturised biochemical or cell-based assays.

Campo scientifico (EuroSciVoc)

Parole chiave

Programma(i)

Argomento(i)

Meccanismo di finanziamento

MSCA-ITN - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN)

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Invito a presentare proposte

(si apre in una nuova finestra) H2020-MSCA-ITN-2018

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Coordinatore

UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW
Contributo netto dell'UE
€ 606 345,12
Indirizzo
UNIVERSITY AVENUE
G12 8QQ Glasgow
Regno Unito
Regione
Scotland West Central Scotland Glasgow City
Tipo di attività
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Collegamenti
Costo totale
€ 606 345,12

Partecipanti (10)

Partner (8)