iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Gavin Williams @chemsynthbiol.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Expanding the repertoire of genetically encoded sensors could open many oxidative biotransformations to directed evolution.

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Gavin Williams @chemsynthbiol.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Can genetically encoded biosensors unlock directed evolution for enzyme reactions that lack scalable screens? Our new @rscadvances.rsc.org paper shows that engineering CymR makes it possible. pubs.rsc.org/ra/article/d...

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Gavin Williams @chemsynthbiol.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Tailored biosensors for directed evolution of terpene P450s. We engineered a CymR-based biosensor that enabled high-throughput, biosensor-guided evolution of a P450. Check it out in our preprint. #biosensor #P450 #synbio #terpene #biocatalysis chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10....

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Gavin Williams @chemsynthbiol.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

The Bigger Picture: Terpenes are one of the largest and most diverse families of natural products — including medicines, vitamins, flavors, and fragrances. Tools like this biosensor accelerate the engineering of microbes to produce them sustainably at scale.

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Gavin Williams @chemsynthbiol.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Why It's Exciting: This is the first biosensor for monocyclic monoterpene alcohols — a class of molecules with major pharmaceutical, flavor, and fragrance applications. Its modular design allows it to be adapted to find and optimize the production of many other valuable products

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Gavin Williams @chemsynthbiol.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

The Full System: We then coupled the biosensor to a complete α-terpineol biosynthetic pathway in E. coli, feeding the bacteria simple alcohol precursors and watching them make the fragrance molecule — confirmed by both the fluorescent signal and traditional analysis (GC-MS). ✅

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Gavin Williams @chemsynthbiol.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

The Engineering: We started with a natural transcription factor that detects a different molecule, and used modeling + directed evolution to reshape its binding pocket so it recognizes α-terpineol. Just 3 rounds gave us a biosensor with a 22× improvement in sensitivity. 🎯

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Gavin Williams @chemsynthbiol.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Testing thousands of variants one by one using traditional methods is way too slow. The Solution: We built a genetic circuit inside E. coli that produces green fluorescent protein whenever the bacteria make α-terpineol. This lets us screen thousands of variants rapidly.

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Gavin Williams @chemsynthbiol.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

The Problem: Currently, α-terpineol is produced industrially using harsh acids with low yields. We want bacteria to make it instead — cleaner, greener, scalable. But how do we know when the engineered microbe is actually doing its job?

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Gavin Williams @chemsynthbiol.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

New paper from the Williams lab! We engineered bacteria that glow 🟢 when they make a valuable terpene alcohol. Why does that matter? Thread 👇 pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a... @ncstatechem.bsky.social

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Gavin Williams @chemsynthbiol.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Excited to share our #polyketide #biosensor artwork featured on the cover of Biochemistry! Thanks to several group members for your help with this! #MyACSCover

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Gavin Williams @chemsynthbiol.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Thrilled to share our latest enzyme engineering in ACS Chemical Biology! We improved an enzyme involved in #polyketide starter unit biosynthesis and used it to generate polyketide acceptor substrates in vitro. Kudos to Jared and the team of authors! @pubs.acs.org

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Gavin Williams @chemsynthbiol.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Excited to share our @pubs.acs.org Syn Bio publication on the production of non-natural alkylated Trp derivatives in E. coli. Potential applications for #terpene diversification. Kudos to everyone who contributed to this work.

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