Biology subjects

Campanile, G.

Publications and source records attributed to Campanile, G..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Regulating population density through antithetic feedback control of cell growth

We present a genetic feedback control strategy enabling engineered microorganisms to self-regulate their population density. Our approach leverages a quorum sensing mechanism for the production of a growth inhibitor protein, whose activation is regulated by an embedded antithetic controller. Through mathematical modeling and steady-state analysis, we provide design guidelines to tune the control parameters. Finally, we validate the control architecture performance and robustness via realistic agent-based simulations in BSim. The proposed control architecture guarantees robust regulation of the cell density while relying on fewer constraints on the biological parameters with respect to other solutions presented in the literature.

synthetic biology↗

bioRxiv2024

In silico analysis of metabolic burden effects on a multicellular integral controller

Metabolic burden is a critical limiting factor in the design of synthetic circuits, affecting both their reliability and performance. To mitigate its effects, distributing control functions across different cell populations within a multicellular control architecture offers a promising solution, while simultaneously enhancing modularity and re-usability of the circuits. We first present a model that explicitly accounts for limited ribosome availability within cells. Using this framework, we then derive a mathematical model of a multicellular antithetic integral controller that incorporates these shared resources. Through numerical bifurcation analysis and in silico agent-based experiments in BSim, we compare the multicellular controller against its traditional single-cell (embedded) implementation, evaluating both resource utilization and stability.

synthetic biology↗