Presenter
Gizem Gumuskaya
Dr. Gizem Gumuskaya is an architect and synthetic biologist based in Boston, USA. Forging a rigorous intersection between design, biology, and computation, her research focuses on synthetic morphogenesis: reprogramming the morphogenetic code embodied in biological structures to create self-constructing living architectures by design. The latest example of these synthetic architectures is her doctoral invention, Anthrobots, the first human-derived self-constructing biological robots, with abilities to execute diverse tasks and further self-assemble into larger structures. Gizem’s research has been published in a wide range of journals from Advanced Science to the International Journal of Architectural Computing, as well as featured in The New York Times, CNN, Reuters, BBC, Science, Nature, Scientific American, Forbes, Al Jazeera, and many other outlets. Gizem holds a PhD in Biology from Tufts University and Wyss Institute at Harvard University (advisor: Michael Levin), as well as a dual master’s degree in Synthetic Biology and Computational Design from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (advisors: Ron Weiss and George Stiny, respectively). Originally from Turkey, Gizem earned her Bachelor in Architecture in 2015 from Istanbul Technical University. More on her research can be found at www.gizemgumuskaya.com.
Abstract:
This talk will focus on advances in synthetic morphogenesis: reprogramming the morphogenetic code in biological cells to steer multicellular self-construction toward a target morphology by design. The traditional approach to synthetic morphogenesis relies on the exogenous insertion of genetic circuits that encode the final architecture of interest. Hence, the morphological and behavioral complexity of the synthetic constructs has been bounded by the restrictions imposed by circuit size and delivery methods. As a result, the development of autonomous, large-scale, and rapid construction of living structures with radical synthetic morphologies and functions has been limited. To offer an alternative and complementary approach, in this talk, a novel method leveraging the inherent anatomical plasticity of adult tissues for triggering synthetic morphogenesis without direct genetic manipulation will be introduced. In this approach, a set of priori-designed non-default developmental inputs are provided to the wild-type chassis (e.g., NHBEs) to guide the biological system towards self-construction into the target design (e.g., ciliated spheroid). To illustrate this approach, the case study of Anthrobots (Gumuskaya et al., 2024), the first human-derived self-constructing living “biobots,” will be presented.
