Felipe Aguilera MillacuraThe University of Edinburgh | UoE · School of Biological Sciences
Felipe Aguilera Millacura
PhDc on Quantitative Biology Biochemistry and Biotechnology
About
8
Publications
1,135
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28
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
Currently, I am finishingmy PhD in Synthetic Biology at the Chris French Lab from the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. In 2015, I obtained my MSc. in Biotechnology working on Environmental Biotechnology at the Federico Santa María Technical University (Valparaiso, Chile). Thereafter I worked at CICITEM (Antofagasta, Chile) on a project which assessed the catabolic capabilities and heavy metal resistances from Cupriavidus metallidurans strains, in colaboration with SCK-CEN (Mol, Belgium).
Skills and Expertise
Education
January 2017 - December 2020
Publications
Publications (8)
Heavy metal co-contamination in crude oil-polluted environments may inhibit microbial bioremediation of hydrocarbons. The model heavy metal-resistant bacterium Cupriavidus metallidurans CH34 possesses cadmium and mercury resistance, as well as genes related to the catabolism of hazardous BTEX aromatic hydrocarbons. The aims of this study were to an...
While synthetic biology represents a promising approach to solve real-world problems, the use of genetically modified organisms is a cause of legal and environmental concerns. Cell-free systems have emerged as a possible solution but much work is needed to optimize their functionality and simplify their usage for Synthetic Biology. Here we present...
In vivo logic gates have proven difficult to combine into larger devices. Our cell-based logic system, ParAlleL, decomposes a large circuit into a collection of small subcircuits working in parallel, each subcircuit responding to a different combination of inputs. A final global output is then generated by a combination of the responses. Using ParA...
For the past three decades, Cupriavidus metallidurans has been one of the major model organisms for bacterial tolerance to heavy metals. Its type strain CH34 contains at least 24 gene clusters distributed over four replicons, allowing for intricate and multilayered metal responses. To gain organic mercury resistance in CH34, broad-spectrum mer gene...
Cell-free systems (CFS) are an emerging technology where cell extracts are used instead of living genetically-modified cells creating a completely in vitro reaction, thus, not presenting a "living prospect" applicable to current legal regulations. Here we show a versatile cell-free system based on the master survivalist bacteria Cupriavidus metalli...
In vivo logic gates have proven difficult to combine into larger devices. Our cell-based logic system, BioLogic, decomposes a large circuit into a collection of small subcircuits working in parallel, each subcircuit responding to a different combination of inputs. A final global output is then generated by combination of the responses. Using BioLog...
Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and the three xylene isomers are monoaromatic contaminants widely distributed on polluted sites. Some microorganisms have developed mechanisms to degrade these compounds, but their aerobic and anaerobic degradation is inhibited in presence of heavy metals, such as mercury or lead. In this report, the degradation of be...
Projects
Projects (3)
Cell-free systems are a promising technology to avoid current legal limitations that restrict the use of genetically modified organisms. There is a need for development of new systems using the cell-free approach, but most attempts have been focused on mimicking normal cell behaviour. This work has as principal aim the generation of a modular cell-free system capable of not only sensing variables present in the environment, such as heavy metals, but also analysing them through the use of in-vitro logic gates, hereafter called DNAlogic. The generation of memory, a new synthetic and adaptable trigger, together with the use of RNA aptamers as final outputs, will constitute a solution for problems commonly observed in cell free system applications.
Identification and characterization of new bacterial strains isolated from heavy metal contaminated sites
Studies of bioremediation kinetics
