The Bashor Lab @ Rice

Welcome to the Bashor Lab

What We Do: The goal of our work is to use synthetic regulatory circuits to reprogram the behavior of human cells.

Our Research

The Bashor Lab

Using the tools of synthetic biology, we construct artificial regulatory circuits and test their function in living cells. This not only gives us insight into the design logic of natural regulation, but also allows us to predictably alter cellular phenotype to create cell-based translational applications.

Synthetic Gene Circuitry

Our work explores the fundamentals of gene expression control in mammalian cells. By leveraging multi-scale chromatin regulation, our engineering approach allows us to encode stable, precise control over complex artificial gene expression programs that can be used to report on and also reprogram cellular behavior.

Synthetic Signalling Pathways

We are interested in engineering post-translational circuits that sense, compute, and respond to extracellular inputs. These circuits serve as model systems for understanding the molecular and biophysical determinants of signal transduction, and can be used to programmably control how a cell interacts with its environment.

High-throughput circuit engineering

One of our goals is to increase the pace and scale of synthetic circuit engineering. We are creating experimental pipelines that use iterative rounds of circuit library construction and testing to systematically and comprehensively discover circuit design principles.

Engineering Cell-based therapies

By introducing synthetic regulatory programs that encode for functions like sense and response, secretion, movement, or differentiation, we can reshape how cells interact with their environment. Using our circuit engineering toolkit, we aim to impart relevant cell types with new behavioral features, transforming them into agents capable of fighting disease.

Publications

Farahani, Yang, Fomby, Bashor, Nelson, Toettcher (2022) pYtags kinase signaling BioRXiv

Farahani, Yang, Fomby, Bashor, Nelson, Toettcher (2022) pYtags kinase signaling BioRXiv

Bragdon, Patel, Chuang, Levien, Bashor, Khalil (2023) Cell

Yang X, Her J, Bashor CJ (2020) Mammalian signaling circuits from bacterial parts. Nature Chemical Biology.

Yang X, Her J, Bashor CJ (2020) Mammalian signaling circuits from bacterial parts. Nature Chemical Biology.

Heins ZJ, Mancuso CP, Kiriakov S, Wong BG, Bashor CJ, Khalili AS (2019). Designing automated, high-throughput, continuous cell growth experiments using eVOLVER. Journal of Visualized Experiments. 147: e59652

O'Connell RW, Bashor CJ (2019) The least mating pathway: synthetically refactoring a familiar signaling system for new applications. Cell. 177:521-3

Bashor CJ, Patel N, Choubey S, Beyzavi A, Kondev J, Collins JJ, Khalil AS (2019). Complex signal processing in synthetic gene circuits using cooperative regulatory assemblies. Science. 364(6440): 593-7.

Perspective by Andrew H. Ng & Hana El-Samad in Science 363(6440): 531-2

Perspective by Andrew H. Ng & Hana El-Samad in Science 363(6440): 531-2

Wong BG, Mauso CP, Kiriakov S, Bashor CJ, Khalil AS. (2018) Precise, automated control of conditions for high-throughput growth of yeast and bacteria with eVOLVER. Nature Biotechnology. 36(7): 614-23

Technology Feature by Mike May in Nature 569: 587-8

Bashor CJ, Collins JJ. (2018) Understanding biological regulation through synthetic biology. Annual Review of Biophysics. 47: 399-423

Publications

John Her

PhD Student - Bioengineering

B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley

Ronan O'Connell

PhD Student - Bioengineering

MEng Biomedical Engineering, The University of Glasgow, Scotland

Lucas Brown

PhD Student - Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology

B.S. Biochemistry, Tufts University
B.S. Biotechnology, Tufts University

Xiaoyu Yang

PhD Student - Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology

B.S. Life Science, Peking University

Olivia Flynn

PhD Student - Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology

B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Notre Dame

Tawan (Pop) Kiratiwongwan

PhD Student - Bioengineering

B.BmE Bioengineering, University of Minnesota

Zheng Diao

PhD Student - Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology

B.S. Biochemistry, University of Minnesota

Alena Streletskaia

PhD Student - BioSciences

B.S./M.S. Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lomonosov Moscow State University

Kshitij Rai

PhD Student - Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology

B.Eng/M.Eng Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi

AJ Walters

PhD Student - Bioengineering

B.S. Biological/Biosystems Engineering, Utah State University

Shonik Ganjoo

Undergraduate - Bioengineering

In Progress
Bioengineering, Rice University

Kian Samra

Undergraduate - Bioengineering

In Progress
Bioengineering, Rice University

Vicky Liu

Undergraduate - Bioengineering

In Progress
Bioengineering, Rice University

Matthew Lee

PhD Student - Bioengineering

B.S. Materials Engineering, Johns Hopkins University

Melissa Cantú

Undergraduate - Bioengineering

In Progress
Bioengineering, Rice University

Priyanka Subramanian

Undergraduate - Bioengineering

In Progress
Bioengineering, Rice University

Jason Nguyen

Undergraduate - Bioengineering

In Progress
Bioengineering, Rice University

Lauryn Piggatt

Undergraduate - Bioengineering

In Progress
Bioengineering, Rice University

Alice Zhou

Undergraduate - Bioengineering

In Progress
Bioengineering, Rice University

Stephanie Agu

Undergraduate - Bioengineering

In Progress
Bioengineering, Rice University

Yiduo Wang

Graduate Student - Bioengineering

B.S. Biochemistry and Computer Science
University of Wisconsin, Madison

Passa Pungchai

Graduate Student - Bioengineering

B.S. Bioengineering,
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Andrew Sun

Undergraduate - Bioengineering

In Progress
Bioengineering, Rice University

Caleb Bashor

Principle Investigator

Post Doc, MIT
Ph.D Biophysics, UCSF
B.A. Biochemistry, Reed College