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The Elowitz Lab at Caltech

@elowitzlab.bsky.social

1.8K followers 155 following 12 posts

Synthetic biology and systems biology. www.elowitz.caltech.edu

The Elowitz Lab at Caltech @elowitzlab.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

In a mouse model of Ras-driven liver cancer, systemic treatment with the circuits (lower row) reduced tumor burden compared to untreated controls (upper row). Much more to explore.

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The Elowitz Lab at Caltech @elowitzlab.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

We compared circuits (right) with Ras inhibitors (RMC-7977 and Sotorasib) by targeting mutant cells (magenta) co-cultured with wild-type Ras cells (green). Circuits were potent and selective.

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The Elowitz Lab at Caltech @elowitzlab.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

We tried many, many, many circuit designs, eventually generating ones that sensitively discriminate Ras mutant cancer cells. We also generated protease-activated proteases to amplify weak oncogenic signals.

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The Elowitz Lab at Caltech @elowitzlab.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

In this paradigm, engineered proteins are introduced into cancer and healthy cells using LNP-delivered mRNA. They then sense cancer markers (such as mutant Ras) and trigger engineered cell death effectors (caspases or gasdermins) only in cancer cells. (idealized schematic)

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