On how systems biology enables synthetic biology – the Bacillus subtilis example

Large scale systems biology studies have revealed the unexpected complexity of the regulatory programs that the bacterium Bacillus subtilis puts in place to adapt to environmental changes. Adaptation involves dynamic interactions across multiple levels of regulation and often large-scale rearrangements of the transcriptome. Despite this complexity, I will discuss how this new knowledge opens the way to a more rational approach of synthetic biology.
Dr. Philippe Noirot is deputy director of the joint INRA/Agro ParisTech Micalis Institute and head of the Systems Biology division. He received a Ph.D. in molecular genetics (university Paris-sud, Orsay, France) with Dr. S. D. Ehrlich. He then worked as a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. R. P. Novick (PHRI, New York), and later with Dr R. D. Kolodner (DFCI, Harvard Medical School, Boston).  In 1998, he became head of a research group focused on studying chromosome dynamics using interactomics associated with functional genomics and chromosome engineering techniques. Dr. Noirot coordinated the FP6 integrated project BaSysBio, which focused on developing a systems biology approach to understand the transcription regulatory structure in B. subtilis. He also coordinated the FP7 BaSynthec project focused on model-driven design of bacterial strains, on genome minimization, and on the development of synthetic approaches to B. subtilis biotechnology.
Moderation: Professor Dr. Dörte Becher