We leverage the latest advances in Synthetic Biology, Biochemistry, and Chemistry to understand and engineer complex systems.

**1. Genetic Design Optimization**

Living organisms build the most complex and useful chemicals known to man. We use novel engineering strategies to re-write the genetics of natural product biosynthesis. We apply this to discover and over-produce molecules from nature that have applications as drugs, pesticides, and herbicides.

**2. Engineered Speciation**

Species boundaries are defined by pre-zygotic and post-zygotic barriers to genetic exchange. By engineering such barriers, we can essentially create ‘new’ species. We apply this technology to limit the gene flow between populations and as a mechanism to control or eradicate pest organisms. Synthetic species can also be used as drivers of evolution in competitive co-cultures.

**3. Complex Systems Engineering**

Since the advent of recombinant DNA technology in the early 1970’s, most biotechnology applications are comprised of relatively simple, single-gene systems. We are leveraging advances in algorithmic DNA assembly to design, build, and test large, multi-gene systems with applications in medicine, agriculture, and the environment.

Recent Publications

1. Engineering Biology Research Consortium (2024). Engineering Biology for Space Health: An Innovative Research Roadmap. Retrieved from http://roadmap.ebrc.org. doi: 10.25498/E4D59R

2. Haynes K, Andrews L, Beisel C, Chappell J, Cuba Samaniego C, Dueber J, Dunlop M, Franco E, Lucks J, Noireaux V, Savage D, Silver P, Smanski MJ, Young E. (2024) Ten years of the Synthetic Biology Summer Course at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. ACS Synthetic Biology. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.4c00276

3. Zinselmeier MH, Casas-Mollano JA, Cors J, Sychla A, Heinsch SC, Voytas DF, Smanski MJ (2024) Optimized dCas9 Programmable Transcriptional Activators for Plants. Plant Biotechnology. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.14441

4. Sychla A, Stach CS, Roach SN, Hayward AN, Langlois RA, Smanski MJ (2024) High-throughput investigation of genetic design constraints in domesticated Influenza A Virus for transient gene delivery. In revision Preprint: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.02.14.580300

5. Moon S, Saboe A, Smanski MJ (2024) Using design of experiments to guide genetic optimization of engineered metabolic pathways J Industr Microb Biotech Volume 51, https://doi.org/10.1093/jimb/kuae010

6. Janzen A, Pothula R, Sychla A, Feltman NR, Smanski MJ (2024) Predicting thresholds for population replacement gene drives. BMC Biol 22, 40 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-024-01823-2

7. Casas-Mollano JA, Zinselmeier MH, Sychla A, Smanski MJ (2023) Efficient gene activation in plants by the MoonTag programmable transcription activator. Nucleic Acids Research https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkad458

8. Hsu SH, Lee J, Sychla A, Smanski MJ (2023) Rational search of genetic design space for a heterologous terpene metabolic pathway in Streptomyces. Metabolic Engineering https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymben.2023.02.011

9. Erickson SE, Lhewa P, Rundquist K, Schultz S, Levers L, Smanski MJ (2023) Perceptions on the genetic biocontrol of invasive carp. Bioarchive. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.27.550879

10. Sychla A, Feltman NR, Hutchison WD, Smanski MJ (2022) Modeling-informed Engineered Genetic Incompatibility strategies to overcome resistance in the invasive Drosophila suzukii. Frontiers in Insect Science doi:10.3389/finsc.2022.1063789

Google Scholar Link to Complete Publications…

Group Members

**Julie Badger** Graduate Student beenk006@umn.edu

**Savio De Siqueira Ferreira** Postdoctoral Scholar sdesique@umn.edu

**Ratnasri Pothula** Postdoctoral Scholar ratnasri@umn.edu

**Nate Feltman** Postdoctoral Scholar feltm006@umn.edu

**Leland Pornschloegl** Graduate Student porns003@umn.edu

**Collin Woolson** Technician wools043@umn.edu

**Maxime Boneza** Graduate Student bonez001@umn.edu

Colby Johnson Graduate Student joh15243 [at] umn [dot] edu — **Colby Johnson** Graduate Student joh15243@umn.edu

Michael Smanski Group Leader smanski [at] umn [dot] edu — **Michael Smanski** Group Leader smanski@umn.edu

**Jonathan Cors** Graduate Student corsx006@umn.edu

**Seonyun Moon** Graduate Student moon0215@umn.edu

Past Members

Thomas Hougard, Medical School, UMN

Duncan Mincks, Law Student, Hamline University

Madeline Nicol, Manufacturing Associate, Takeda

Basem Al-Shayeb, Founder, Amber Bio

Duc Hoang, Graduate Student

Dakota Snustad, Medical School, UND

Aleksandra Bajer, Medical School, UMN

Jack Dalluge, Lab Technician, University of Utah

Ambuj Upadhyay, Senior Specialist I, Beam Therapeutics

Nicholas Jacob, Joint Masters program, University of Göttingen (Germany) and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (Norway)

Adam Sychla, Postdoctoral Scholar at Harvard Medical School

Anna Saboe, Research and Development Scientist at Bimeda

Dimitri Perusse, Scientist at NovoClade

Anna Janzen, Fulbright Scholar, Taiwan

Jonah Hinks, Pharmacy Technician, West Seventh Pharmacy

Nathan Myslicki, Molecular Technologist NGS, Tempus AI

Bennett Auers, Entrepreneur

Mia Deaven, Chemist, Sherwin-Williams

Greg Shobert, Officer Candidate, US Coast Guard

Alec Vallota-Eastman, Scientist II, NASA Ames Research Center

Sabina Kim, Student

Maciej Maselko, Associate Professor, Macquarie University

Edward Large, Research Scientist University of Missouri

Mariela Rivera-DeJesus, Graduate Student, Cornell University

Christopher Stach, Mammalian Synthetic Biologist, Asimov

Jesse Gates, Medical School, Sanford

Siba Das, CEO at NovoClade

Suzie Hsu, Scientist at Beckman Coulter

Matthew Zinselmeier, Scientist at Corteva

Sam Erickson, Doctoral candidate, University of Minnesota

Sarah Jo Devore, Data Scientist at Recursion

Stephen Heinsch, Bioinformatics Scientist at Jord BioScience

Juan Armando Casas-Mollano, Genome Modification Post-Doctorate Scientist at Bayer

Matthew Fossing, BioProcess Engineer III, Bristol Myers Squibb

Pema Llewa, Communicable Disease Investigator, Jackson Cty, OR

Chengyuan (Wesley) Wu, Doctoral candidate, Rice University

Kate Phillips, Scientist, Jord Bioscience

Isabel Ameli, Manufacturing Scientist, Takeda

Recent News

Come work with us!

We are part of the Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics (BMBB) Graduate Program at the University of Minnesota. We are looking for postdocs, students, and scientists in bioinformatics and computational biology, microbiology, chemical engineering, and related areas. Please send the following information to the address given below:

Cover letter, including research and career interests
CV
Preprints of publications listed on your CV but not published
Letter of recommendation from your most recent advisor
Mike Smanski: smanski@umn.edu

Smanski Lab Advising Statement

Smanski Lab

Mail:

1479 Gortner Ave Room 140
St Paul, MN, 55108

Visit:

Gortner Laboratory Room 344 1479 Gortner Ave
St Paul, MN, 55108