Systems and Synthetic Biology of Genetic Networks

Călin Guet's scientific curiosity is centered around understanding systems of interacting genes and proteins that constitute themselves into genetic networks in bacteria. These bio-molecular networks are involved in a constant process of decision making and computation that takes place over various time scales: from seconds to the division time of an organism and beyond. By studying existing networks or by constructing networks de novo in living cells using synthetic biology approaches, he aims to uncover universal rules that govern biological genetic networks.

The group uses Escherichia coli as our favorite model system and is generally interested in microbial genetic systems given their relative simplicity and powerful experimental genetic tools available. An emphasis is placed on understanding the molecular biology and physiology of the single cell, since often population level measurements mask the behavior of the individual cell. To this end they use and develop in vivo techniques that are minimally invasive in order to quantitatively characterize the temporal dynamics of gene expression.

Contact
Călin Guet
Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria)
Am Campus 1
A – 3400 Klosterneuburg

Phone: +43 (0)2243 9000-4001
E-mail: calin.guet@remove-this.ist.ac.at

CV

Publication list

Assistant
Nicole Hotzy

Phone: +43 (0)2243 9000-1032
E-mail: nicole.hotzy@remove-this.ist.ac.at

Team

Selected Projects

  • Information processing at complex promoters
    Promoters perform very basic information processing: physiological information from diverse cellular sources is integrated at the promoter level in order to produce a mostly binary response: gene activation or gene repression. Natural promoters have been shaped by evolutionary processes and reveal only a subset of all possible information processing capabilities. By building synthetic promoters we aim to understand the constraints imposed by the molecular hardware on the information processing potential of bacterial promoters.
  • Systems biology of the Mar Regulon
    The multiple antibiotic resistance or mar operon, as the name suggests, is an important genetic locus responsible for multiple antibiotic resistance in gram negative bacteria. Several genes that are components of the wider mar regulon integrate a variety of intra and extracellular signals. We are interested in a systems level description of the mar regulon at the level of the single cell, in order to gain a deeper understanding of how resistance towards a variety of different chemicals emerges in natural settings.

Selected Publications

  • Kinkhabwala A, Guet CC. 2008. Uncovering cis regulatory codes using synthetic promoter shuffling. PLoS ONE 3: e2030.
  • Guet CC, Bruneaux L, Min TL, Siegal-Gaskins D, Figueroa I, Emonet T, Cluzel P. 2008. Minimally invasive determination of mRNA concentration in single living bacteria. Nucleic Acids Research 36: e73.
  • Guet CC, Elowitz MB, Hsing WH, Leibler S. 2002. Combinatorial synthesis of genetic networks. Science 296: 1466-1470.

Career
2010            Assistant Professor, IST Austria
2009            Postdoc, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
2005–2008  Postdoc, University of Chicago, USA
2004            PhD, Princeton University, USA

Selected Distinctions
2005-2007   Yen Fellow, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, University of Chicago, USA
1997            Sigma XI Membership

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