User:Benjamin Blount

Contact Info

• Benjamin Blount
• Imperial College Centre for Synthetic Biology
• Department of Bioengineering
• Imperial College, London
• Exhibition Road
• London SW7 2AZ
• UK
• Email me through OpenWetWare

Education

• 2006-2010, PhD, The University of Nottingham
• 2003-2006, BSc, The University of Nottingham

Research interests

My current research focuses on the construction and implementation synthetic genomes. As part of the Sc 2.0 project, an international collaborative effort to build the world's first synthetic eukaryotic genome, I am constructing synthetic yeast chromosome XI. My interests also lie in the exploitation of synthetic chromosomes to enhance the properties of host strains for biotechnology purposes. Using the SCRaMbLE system encoded into the Sc2.0 genome, I'm investigating the ability of synthetic yeast strains to generate improved bioproduction and enhanced growth on alternative carbon sources. I have previously investigated orthogonal gene networks in yeast, with a focus on Transcription Activator-Like Effector (TALE) based transcriptional repressors and their cognate promoters. As part of my PhD research, I characterised gene expression and regulation within bacterial cells and investigated their effects on medically and industrially important phenotypes in Clostridium botulinum.

Publications

1. Awan AR, Blount BA, Bell DJ, Ho JCH, McKiernan RM and Ellis T. Biosynthesis of the Antibiotic Nonribosomal Peptide Penicillin in Baker’s Yeast. Nat Commun. 2017 May 4;8:15202. doi: 10.1038/ncomms15202.

2. Ceroni F, Blount BA and Ellis T. Sensing the Right Time to Be Productive. Cell Syst. 2016 Aug;3(2):116-7. doi: 10.1016/j.cels.2016.08.004.

3. Blount BA, Driessen MR and Ellis T. GC Preps: Fast and Easy Extraction of Stable Yeast Genomic DNA. Sci Rep. 2016 May 31;6:26863. doi: 10.1038/srep26863.

4. Jovicevic D, Blount BA and Ellis T. Total synthesis of a eukaryotic chromosome: Redesigning and SCRaMbLE-ing yeast. Bioessays. 2014 Sep;36(9):855-60. doi: 10.1002/bies.201400086.

5. Blount BA, Weenink T and Ellis T. Construction of synthetic regulatory networks in yeast. FEBS Lett. 2012 Jul 16;586(15):2112-21. doi: 10.1016/j.febslet.2012.01.053.

6. Blount BA, Weenink T, Vasylechko S and Ellis T. Rational diversification of a promoter providing fine-tuned expression and orthogonal regulation for synthetic biology. PLoS One. 2012;7(3):e33279. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0033279.