Abstract:
Synthetic biology applies engineering principles to design and engineer life to address the grand challenges facing humanity. My research group focuses on harnessing natural molecular mechanisms to design, build, and test new technologies to edit gene sequences, evolve gene variants, engineer traits of value, and establish mass-scale molecular biomanufacturing, a.k.a. molecular farming. In this talk, I will discuss how we design and build CRISPR-based tools to enable precision genome editing, rewrite DNA sequences, and overcome delivery challenges through the discovery and characterization of compact CRISPR enzymes. I will demonstrate how we use CRISPR systems to engineer plant traits, including virus resistance, enhanced architecture, and improved yield, and how synthetic evolution drives trait discovery, development, and improvement. Additionally, I will showcase the application of CRISPR technology to engineer pigmented rice, enabling sustainable cultivation and consumption to enhance human health. CRISPR enzymes also unlock the potential of point-of-care (POC) molecular diagnostics. I will discuss our development of diagnostic platforms, including iSCAN, Optima-Dx, Vigilant, and BioScan, by characterizing and engineering novel CRISPR enzymes. Furthermore, I will present our work on engineering CRISPR-based genetic devices to create microbial chassis for bioproduction and delivery of therapeutics. The talk will conclude by highlighting key challenges and proposing solutions to enhance the performance of these precision editing technologies and their translational applications.

Bio:
Professor Magdy Mahfouz received his Ph.D. in molecular genetics from The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA. He subsequently completed industry-funded postdoctoral training in microbiology at the College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, focusing on identifying anticancer, cell-penetrating peptide molecules from microbial sources. Mahfouz is currently a Professor of Bioengineering, Plant Science, and Bioscience at KAUST, where he serves as the principal investigator of the Laboratory for Genome Engineering and Synthetic Biology.
His research group focuses on developing genome engineering and synthetic biology technologies for applications in crop bioengineering, biomanufacturing, and diagnostics. His laboratory utilizes molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, microbiology, and nanoscience approaches to develop disruptive technologies for rewriting genome sequences for trait engineering, biosensing nucleic acids of pathogens or disease markers, and other analytes. His team also explores using plants as a chassis for molecular biomanufacturing of select chemicals and therapeutics.
Professor Mahfouz has developed key technologies for plant genome engineering, enhancing plant immunity, synthetic evolution of plant traits, and novel approaches for pathogen diagnostics.