Germán Rivas Caballero and James Francis Pelletier
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain
Germán holds a PhD in Biochemistry and has expertise in physical and cellular biochemistry, functional reconstitution, bottom-up synthetic biology, macromolecular crowding and phase separation, and quantitative biophysical measurements. His group has reconstituted bacterial divisome components, and he directs several national communities and initiatives for synthetic biology in Spain.
James holds a PhD in Physics and an AB in Chemical and Physical Biology. Central to his research, he co-first authored the genomically minimal cell JCVI-syn3A. Complementary to this expertise in synthetic genomics, he has contributed to microfluidic chemostats for quantitative physiology and has reconstituted cytoplasmic networks and chromosomes in cell extracts.
”Our research combines bottom-up and top-down approaches to synthetic and minimal cells, integrating functional reconstitution, synthetic genomics, and quantitative physiology. We pursue in vitro biochemical characterization and in vivo genome engineering, phenotypic measurements, and multi-omics analysis. With the smallest known genome among cells capable of autonomous growth and division, JCVI-syn3A provides a reference for integration of functional modules in reconstituted systems, as well as a simplified model organism for essential processes conserved in more complex cells. To date, we have focused on interactions between cell division, metabolism, and physicochemical homeostasis. We will extend based on the interests of postdoctoral candidates.”
For more information, visit Germán Rivas Caballero’s website and James Francis Pelletier’s website.
| Main area(s) | Sub-area(s) |
|---|---|
| Metabolism and energy for synthetic cells | Complex interlinked catalytic networks |
| Synthetic cell division and replication | Minimal contractile cytoskeletons and division rings |
| Information processing and evolution of synthetic cells | Minimal chromosome/chromatin/nucleoid |