Univ.-Prof. Dr. Seraphine Wegner

Programming Life with Light: Bottom-Up Synthetic Biology from Synthetic Cells to Multicellular Systems

University of Münster

Abstract: 

A central challenge in synthetic biology is to identify the minimal components required to realize cellular functions and to harness these principles for the rational engineering of living systems. In natural cells, complex behaviors emerge from the precise spatial and temporal control of processes such as protein localization, adhesion, and signaling. Here, I present a bottom-up approach using synthetic and living cells to reconstruct and control these processes with light. By employing photoswitchable proteins and optogenetic tools responsive to visible light, we achieve dynamic spatiotemporal regulation at cellular and multicellular scales. This enables light-controlled adhesion, guiding cells of different types to migrate, self-assemble, and self-sort into programmable multicellular architectures. The spatial organization within these assemblies governs intercellular communication and gives rise to collective behaviors, underscoring the link between structure and function. Beyond classical signaling via diffusible molecules, we establish a non-chemical mode of cell-to-cell communication based on light. Here, the light-based signals propagate rapidly, bypass diffusion and membrane transport, and provide a modular strategy to program communication within diverse communities of synthetic and living cells. In this research program, simplified, cell-mimetic systems allow us to quantitatively link molecular design to emergent behavior and to derive general principles. By transferring these modules into bacterial and mammalian cells and integrating synthetic with living systems, we create hybrid platforms that bridge biological complexity. Together, this work establishes light as a powerful tool to control and connect cells, advancing both our understanding of fundamental design principles and the engineering of cellular systems with programmable functions beyond those observed in nature.

Short Bio: