Doing science is not a lonely endeavour. It involves collaborating with others, using your shared knowledge to find solutions to pressing problems, and pushing past the boundaries of what is known. As an EBRC council member, professor and founder of the Synthetic Biology Young Speaker series (SynBYSS), Tae Seok Moon has dedicated his time to empowering young people in science and solving pressing problems. His mission is to create GEMs (genetically engineered microbes) that can both diagnose disease/pollution and improve the circumstances of each. Imagine, for example, the bacteria in your gut. This bacteria is surprisingly important for your mood - what is known as the brain-gut (mind-gut) connection. What if we were to produce a probiotic that could tell you about the state of your mood, and also perhaps work to change it? Looking more broadly, could we remediate our environment using crafted ‘probiotics’ for the soil? Biosecurity an biosafety are very important for solutions involving GEMs. The Moon lab has developed a stable CRISPR-based kill switch mechanism that works in multiple microbes, ensuring that they only work in their specified environment.
Working together with other scientists across disciplines has been vital to creating solutions that work. Our conversation took a turn down how to ensure interdisciplinarity in projects and about how young people in science should be empowered and supported. Tae Seok Moon runs SynBYSS. In these weekly seminars, the early-stage rising stars in science have the stage for thirty minutes to showcase their research, whilst the more senior scientists give brief five minute talks. This style inverts the current standards and gives early-stage researchers and post-docs a chance to present their work. If you know a rising star, the contact details are below. We hope you enjoy this episode.
Tae Seok Moon social media handles:
Twitter: @Moon_Synth_Bio
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/tae-seok-moon-12515b23
SynBYSS: https://www.youtube.com/@taeseokmoon7442/videos
Stable CRISPR-based kill switches: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28163-5
Synthetic Biology Young Speaker’s Series: https://ebrc.org/synthetic-biology-young-speaker-series-synbyss/
Making Space for young speakers: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41589-022-01001-x
Probiotics for the soil: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167779922002281
Engineering Biology for Climate and Sustainability: https://roadmap.ebrc.org/engineering-biology-for-climate-sustainability/