A Glimpse of Synthetic Biology from Claudia Moratti’s Perspective

“Something I always loved about synthetic biology is that it’s really practical and there is a big focus on how science will make the world a better place. Teams within iGEM were also really collaborative and open to sharing what they've learned. I had always thought about science as being really serious and rigid, and this collaborative spirit showed me what science could be - it made me feel hopeful that I could have a career in synthetic biology and have a really good time doing it. Within the synthetic biology world, there seemed to be a lot of opportunities to work with other people and to be doing projects that have a real-world focus. That's definitely something that has stayed with me as I've been doing my PhD, and those values of openness and collaboration have definitely shaped how I approach science.”

Claudia was first exposed to synthetic biology in 2010 while studying genetics in high school. She learned about a project by the Cambridge iGEM team in 2010 that was working on a biosensor through the firefly gene, which encouraged her to join iGEM and work on her own project. 

The dream became a reality when she was pursuing her undergraduate study in the University of Sydney where she realized that there is an iGEM team at her school and decided to participate as part of the iGEM U_Sydney team in 2016. With the use of a heterologous expression of the ethylene-detection genes in Mycobacterium, Claudia and her colleagues were working on a project called FRES(H) that aims to build an ethylene biosensor for measuring the maturity of fruits and vegetables. The team's thorough approach in resolving a food supply chain issue that has led to the loss of 50% of produced fruits and vegetables, landed them the first runner-up place in the 2016 iGEM Competition.

Expansion of FRES(H) Project

Claudia continues to work on the expansion of the FRES(H) project as part of her current PhD study and is also co-supervising the iGEM teams. 

“The idea behind our biosensor was to make use of a natural sensing system. We studied one strain of Mycobacterium that can metabolize ethene and realised that it must have regulatory gene components that allow it to respond to the presence of the gas then trigger transcription of the ethene metabolism genes. We could use these response genes to make a biosensor. 

My PhD project has two parts to it. The first part is developing tools to characterize regulatory systems in Mycobacterium in general. I'm working on developing CRISPR methods to create knockouts to confirm the function of regulatory genes, and I am also building different tools to characterize the interaction between a regulatory protein and the promoter on which it acts. The second part of my project is looking at several different regulatory gene clusters in the same species of Mycobacterium that allow it to metabolize different hydrocarbon gasses, with the idea being that I could develop many different biosensors that respond to different gasses.”

Wearing Different Hats in Synthetic Biology

“I really enjoy that synthetic biology seems to capture all these different things within one project. It encourages you to consider social, environmental and economical factors, it's impactful, and it requires the application of not just scientific principles but also engineering ones through the DBTL (Design, Build, Test, and Learn) cycle. I really enjoy how cohesive, I think, synthetic biology as a field can be, and I think that's something that has definitely been encouraged by iGEM. It’s also, in my experience, an attitude that has been taken on by other synthetic biologists. Every time I meet someone in synthetic biology they seem to have the ability to switch between all these different perspectives, and I think that's what I like the most about it. You can have all these different experiences and take on all these different roles. It feels really logical to me that you would take into account all these things in any one project.”

Coming from a background in molecular biology combined with chemical engineering, Claudia always finds that in synthetic biology, all of these fields are useful and how they can also be shared to society through human practices. She also realized that iGEM experiences are not always a privilege for Australian students, particularly due to the timing that clashes with the final exams of the educational system in Australia which made her implement her own iGEM experiences in Australian synthetic biology. She is on the executive team of the Australasian Synthetic Biology Challenge, and was previously co-chair, where the community aspired to the big goals of not only giving students experiences to build their own synbio projects, get feedback from various stakeholders in the country, but also how they can increase educational interest toward synthetic biology and prepare them to make their ideas applicable to industrial level or take it to entrepreneurial level, connecting them with various parties and preparing tools to excel in this field.

*Check out her initiatives and ongoing programs of the Australasian Synthetic Biology Challenge that are open for Australia and New Zealand students!

Start Your Community

Some of us may be considering how we might influence and open doors for our nation or region, which may still have limited access to and connections with stakeholders in synthetic biology. Claudia gave us some advice on how to build our synthetic biology community and interact with more people, and people are where it all began.

“I have noticed that it really does take the effort of a lot of individuals to make it happen and it's something that I'm really grateful for. The synthetic biology community in Australia is really wonderful, and the initiatives we have now are the combined efforts of many individuals who were willing to put in their time and effort to make it happen. I think that if you want to be part of it, it's just about making yourself known and trying to find other people who would also be willing to put that amount of effort into it as well.”

Reach out to people in your circle

“I think that there's a lot that can be done at a local level that can have a lot of impacts, so even just trying to create a student society at your university, to try and find like-minded people within your campus is a great place to start from. Getting on social media is also really amazing.”

Connect with the larger society and introduce each other

“Ideally, find people from different universities, from different parts of your country, at different levels to help build the community. Try reaching out to academics or people that you might know who might be interested, and who might be able to help you. This could even be venture capitalist companies who might be investing in biotechnology or things like that. It's just about introducing people to each other, and trying to create a network.” and the rest will follow by hard work!

To sum up, iGEM means community to Claudia. 

“You know I think iGEM means community to me because, when I think about iGEM, I feel like I'm part of something. Even now, it's been six years since I was actually involved in the competition, but I still feel connected to the iGEM Community. So for me, community is what iGEM means to me.”