Our Team

The Foundry core facility is located in the Broad Institute and is closely embedded with their platforms in DNA sequencing, transcriptomics/proteomics, and chemical screening. It is partnership between the Synthetic Biology Center at MIT (Christopher Voigt, Co-Director) and the Broad Technology Labs (Rob Nicol, Director). Dr. Nicol is responsible for establishing DNA sequencing as a manufacturing discipline and now the sequencing platform can process 4.3 trillion bp/day.  Ben Gordon is the Foundry Director.

Three teams are implementing the pipeline at the core facility:

Design Team

• Bioinformatics to harness genome databases
• Rapid optimization of multi-gene designs
• De novo pathway design for non-natural chemicals and materials
• Control of timing and conditions for gene activation
• Genetic part design for diverse organisms
• Genome-scale computer aided design (CAD)
• Actionable design from integrated –omics and screening data

Build Team

• Low-cost multiplex DNA construction
• Novel chemistries for DNA assembly
• Miniaturization and automation
• Integration of construction and sequencing technologies
• Implementation of manufacturing best practices
• LIMS software and bug/QC tracking

Cellular Analytics Team

• Simultaneous proteomic/transcriptomic measurements
• Emulsions systems and single cell –omics
• Extraction of genetic part performance from –omics data
• Data integration and extraction of actionable design rules
• Rapid prototyping of designs pre-transformation.

Interdisciplinary expertise is brought in through academic and industrial partnerships. Michael Fischbach (UCSF) is an expert in bioinformatics, genome analysis, pathway design, and chemical discovery. Jon Clardy (Harvard) brings in natural product discovery and chemical screening technologies. Aviv Regev (Broad) is developing single cell –omics technologies. Michael Jewett (Northwestern) is developing in vitro assays for intractable organisms and emulsion systems. Douglas Densmore (Boston University) is developing computer aided design (CAD) and pipeline integration software. Tim Lu (MIT) and Angela Belcher (MIT) are applying the Foundry pipeline to phage engineering and novel nanomaterials.