Zhang Lab for Cell-Free Synthetic Biology

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University

What we can build with biology is limited by the tools we have. So we build better tools.

The Zhang Lab develops cell-free synthetic biology platforms. We learn the machinery biology already runs on, then rebuild it in an open tube to test what we understand. Sometimes we make the machines better.

Then comes the real test: we ship the tools into the wild to find out whether we got it right.

1

Learn the Machines

Draw on machinery from across biology

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2

Build the Cell-Free Platform

Assemble and characterize outside the cell

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3

Ship the Program

Send it into the wild

Our current tool-building efforts target human health, but the tools aren’t limited to it. If you see an application we have not thought of, we want to hear about it.

Questions We Are Working On