Victor de Lorenzo (CNB, Madrid)

Considering what is happening in the world we should repurpose SynBio as an instrument of peace & healing, not just as an engine of economic development. Frontline biotech can help repairing the damage caused by war, explosions, oil leaks & fires not only to people but also to the environment 🙏🏻

New In JB: Phale, Kasarlawar et al. review the unusual traits of Pseudomonas bharatica CSV86T, an organism that they offer as useful for both bioremediation and up-cycling aromatic compounds.
journals.asm.org/doi/full/10....
@asm.org #JBacteriology

First it was Natural History, then Biochemistry, then Molecular Biology, then Systems Biology, then Synthetic Biology, then Generative Biology … what will come next 🤔?

Dynamics of genetic circuits in Pseudomonas protegens Genetic circuit engineering enables new cellular functions, yet most circuits are developed in the model host Escherichia coli, limiting their availab…

Latest paper out! This piece was a challenge: logic, predictability, decidability, non-model organisms, design... Kudos to @juanricomol.bsky.social & Pablo Japón #syntheticbiology #synbio #biocomputation (I'll post more on this next week) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Université Grenoble Alpes has opened a full professorship in microbiology. The selected candidate will develop their research program on quantitative approaches in microbiology in the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique. For more information 👉🏻 liphy.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/sites/defaul...

Can we engineer the resilience of fragile ecosystems? In this paper with @vmaull.bsky.social @lizashpilkina.bsky.social & @vdlorenzo.bsky.social, we discuss "Emergent Bioengineering" bringing together complexity, #synbio and ecology across scales www.preprints.org/manuscript/2...

2/2 The hit-and-run proteolysis strategy described in this article for increasing DHAP was in fact the very first SynBio Project in our Lab in the early 2000s 😱. But it could not be completed in earnest until the onset of AlphaFold and the help of our DTU (Denmark) friends much later. Never give up!

Precision Proteolysis of Triosephosphate Isomerase of Escherichia coli Boosts Dihydroxyacetone Phosphate Biosynthesis Dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP), a key metabolic intermediate of the Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas pathway of Escherichia coli, has a considerable value as a precursor of high-added-value compounds. While eliminating the triosephosphate isomerase (tpiA) gene should theoretically channel 50% of the glycolytic flux into dead-end production of DHAP, the permanent loss of this activity triggers alternative routes that decrease (rather than increase) DHAP levels. To address this limitation and establish transient regimes of high DHAP biosynthesis, we harnessed the unusual structural tolerance of TpiA for designing a variant of the enzyme that can be rapidly degraded, thus temporarily adopting a null phenotype. This was achieved through conditional expression of the highly specific viral protease PPV-NIa, which cleaves a cognate recognition sequence strategically engineered into an exposed, permissive loop on the protein surface. Optimization of such an in vivo proteolytic device resulted in fully active TpiA variants that become nearly instantly destroyed upon induction of NIa in trans, which was itself engineered as an ON/OFF switch. Metabolomic data of an engineered E. coli strain genomically encoding the cognate genetic device showed that precise post-transcriptional targeting of TpiA leads to a substantial transitory increase of DHAP with minimal disturbance of other typical intermediates. The general value of targeting enzymes in central carbon metabolism, such as TpiA, is discussed in light of systems metabolic engineering.

1/2 My collaborators often complain that some articles seem to go to oblivion & take forever to submit them. My defence is that some good manuscripts—as good wines—improve with time in the dark!Example: this work started nearly 20 yrs ago, but it is published only now 👉🏻 pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Today @cnb impromptu seminar by Manuel Paéz (Imperial College London) on advanced tools for studying membranes👇

Winter weekend cooking for 6 PAX: Botillo del Bierzo 😋. Hard to enjoy though when I listen to the news of that is going on at the other side of the Med Sea ☹️

This 👇

#bioremediation #gmo #bacteria #innovation #regulation #environment | Nymphe Brussels Recap: 7th NYMPHE General Assembly & “Beyond GMOs” Policy Workshop 👨‍🔬🌍 Two inspiring days in Brussels with the NYMPHE - here’s a quick look back. During our 7th General Assembly, project pa...

Revisiting the state of affairs in the EU re use of GE microbes for env bioremediation: www.linkedin.com/posts/nymphe...

We badly need a fresh narrative about GMOs, specially those for env benefit, that is not anchored in the obsolete ideas about risks & natural vs non-natural biologics that originated in Asilomar 1975. A lot of science and knowledge has happened since then, time to revisit all these and move forward!

BTW, it is a shame that some of the most powerful GE strains for env bioremediation —eg for post-conflict soil cleanup—are rejected outright because they are tagged *GMO*. The very name makes potential beneficiaries panic in favor of less efficient but more politically comfortable alternatives ☹️

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Synthetically-primed evolution enables emergence of Pseudomonas putida strains able to grow on explosive residue 2,4 DNT as sole C/N source. A case of *molecular negotiation* between the implanted pathway & the host’s regulatory & physiological network 🤔 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

PhD & Postdoc Positions at the Dept of Microbial Population Biology of the MPI for Evolutionary Biology (Plön, Germany) to work on jumbo phages & HGT of genomic islands. An amazing research team led by the one and only Paul Rainey, one of the most hard-core evolutionary micro/biologists of our time!

Yesterday I defended my PhD thesis at the CSL, a unique library of questions and ideas. Thanks to @ricardsole.bsky.social I feel incredibly lucky to walk this path with you. To @vdlorenzo.bsky.social, @jgojalvo.bsky.social, Sonia Kéfi: amazing committee. To my family and friends, for lifting me up.

Beyond GMOs: How Laboratory-Trained Bacteria Could Transform Environmental Remediation - workshop summary On 3 February 2026, researchers, regulators and policy specialists gathered in Brussels to examine a rapidly evolving question at the intersection of biotechnology and environmental governance: how sh...

The times they are a-changin'… The result of the first debate at this side of the pond on the need to revisit old ideas and regulations re engineering & release of microorganisms as agents of environmental bioremediation 👉🏻 www.nympheproject.eu/post/beyond-...

Per/Polyfluoroalkyl Substances—PFAS—are among the nastiest & most recalcitrant environmental pollutants. Not in vain they are called *forever chemicals*. But contemporary tools for enzyme design come to the rescue! Attend the Marie Ronnander's impromtu seminar @cnb-csic.bsky.social on the matter 🙌

Excited to share a new PhD thesis from my student and soon Dr @vmaull.bsky.social on synthetic ecosystems, preventing tipping points, and a new concept: emergent bioengineering. Very proud of this achievement, and thankful to @sfiscience.bsky.social, where many of these ideas came to life.

Feel like doing a SynBio PhD in Spain? Check this offer, many fellowships available 👉🏻 lifehub.csic.es/synbio-cofund/

Impromptu seminar today @cnb-csic.bsky.social by Kiara Reyes Gamas (Rice Univ) on developing RNA-based memory systems to study horizontal gene transfer dynamics in environmental microbial communities.

Fantastic read on the world of plasmids by @vdlorenzo.bsky.social and Esteban MG. 🧬 History, state-of-the-art, and future perspectives all in one. Highly recommended for the entire molecular biology community!

Postdoc position in development of protocols for isolation of microbial strains for sustainable protein production

This 👉🏻 www.jobs.ethz.ch/job/view/112...

The disputed identity of Pseudomonas putida KT2440: when taxonomists rename your favorite microbe | mBio Names matter; they are not mere labels. They operate as anchors of memory, social coordinates, and references of collective identity. When a name becomes established through long-term use and broad ad...

Should an iconic #bacterial #chassis be renamed without community consensus? Our @mbio.bsky.social #article vindicates the established identity of #Pseudomonas putida KT2440 & argues for continuity, community practice & common sense in naming · @vdlorenzo.bsky.social
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

The disputed identity of Pseudomonas putida KT2440: when taxonomists rename your favorite microbe | mBio Names matter; they are not mere labels. They operate as anchors of memory, social coordinates, and references of collective identity. When a name becomes established through long-term use and broad ad...

How do you react when your favorite microbe is renamed by taxonomists who are completely outside your field—and who ignore the community that actually works with it? Here is our clear answer re the case of Pseudomonas putida KT2440 👉🏻 journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Exploring the computing power of microbes that shapes the environment Microbes process input information into output responses through diverse genetic and metabolic mechanisms, effectively making them physical systems th…

Bacteria do compute and can be reprogrammed for new capacities—but not exactly by following Turing’s rules. Evolution, context dependence, and the soft-matter nature of living hardware redefine what computation means in biology. From @angelgm.bsky.social Lab 👉🏻 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

As 2026 begins, the EAM, @Vdlorenzo.bsky.social, Paul B. Rainey and many others remind us the urgency of renewing support to Society Journals and, taking action to reward quality research and curb predatory publishing.
👉 buff.ly/V36xgMO
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Time to leverage SynBio for tacking environmental pollution. But releasing bioengineered microorganisms still raises alarms. A new narrative is badly needed: bacteria for bioremediation are not alien intrusions but laboratory-trained extensions of life’s creativity link.springer.com/10.1038/s443...

✨And with that the 2025 season comes to an end...
But at SEVA we continue working for a replicable and reliable science🤝 We want to thank you all for your support through this past year, and we can’t wait for all the surprises 2026 will bring! 🤩