Liberal Arts and Sciences
Abil Lab
Led by Zhanar Abil · Biology
What we study
The Abil Lab studies how to build a synthetic cell from non‑living chemicals using cell‑free synthetic biology. They develop self‑replicating gene circuits and an approach called integrative in‑vitro evolution to create minimal, self‑regenerating systems.
What working here is like
- Wet lab
- Building & testing
- No organisms (data only)
- Project
- 1
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Integrative in vitro evolution
Developing self‑replicating cell‑free gene circuits that evolve toward more complex, self‑regenerating networks.
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Protein-Primed DNA Replication is Restored in a Modified Cell-Free Protein Synthesis System
2026 · ACS Synthetic Biology
Tests whether a modified protein synthesis system can restore DNA replication in synthetic microcompartments.
- Building a Synthetic Cell Together
2025 · Nature Communications
Discusses challenges and goals for building synthetic cells from molecular components.
Show 3 more papersShow fewer
- Integrating metabolism and evolution towards the realization of synthetic life
2024 · Nature Reviews Bioengineering
- Darwinian Evolution of Self-Replicating DNA in a Synthetic Protocell
2024 · Nature Communications
Shows how DNA can replicate and evolve in synthetic protocells.
- Clonal Amplification-Enhanced Gene Expression in Synthetic Vesicles
2023 · ACS Synthetic Biology
Builds a system to amplify gene expression in synthetic vesicles.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
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