Goals and Approach

The In Vivo Team at the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology focuses on creating mammalian models that incorporate the DNA Typewriter technology to enable whole organism recording. Such records can include information on, in theory, any biological signal. This includes cellular lineages, internal events and decisions, external signals or stressors, and phenotypic changes. Importantly, this information is recorded sequentially. This creates a relative timeline of each event as it happens, acting like a cellular smart watch that can later report back on the health, actions, and experiences of the cell. Applied to a mammalian system, this information would provide valuable insight into development, homeostasis, and disease states. 

To accomplish this, the In Vivo Team works closely with the Build, Write, Sense, and Read Teams to adapt the DNA Typewriter technology into a mouse model and interpret the resulting recorded signals and events across a whole organism.