PhD defence
Deciphering regulation and antibiotic production in Streptomyces using synthetic biology
- C. Bai
- Date
- Tuesday 15 September 2026
- Time
- Location
-
Academy Building
Rapenburg 73
2311 GJ Leiden
Supervisor(s)
Summary
Antibiotics have transformed modern medicine, but their effectiveness is increasingly threatened by antimicrobial resistance. Many important antibiotics come from Streptomyces, a group of soil bacteria with an extraordinary ability to produce bioactive natural products. However, many of the genes responsible for producing these compounds remain inactive under standard laboratory conditions, making their chemical potential difficult to access. This thesis explores how synthetic biology can help unlock this hidden potential. By applying synthetic biology principles to Streptomyces, this work investigates how these bacteria regulate growth, development, and antibiotic production, and how this knowledge can be used to activate silent natural product pathways. Rather than relying only on traditional screening, the thesis uses a more rational and engineering-inspired approach to understand and redesign biological systems. Together, the findings show how synthetic biology can provide new ways to study Streptomyces biology, reveal hidden metabolic capacity, and support the discovery and engineering of valuable natural products.
PhD dissertations
Approximately one week after the defence, PhD dissertations by Leiden PhD students are available digitally through the Leiden Repository, that offers free access to these PhD dissertations. Please note that in some cases a dissertation may be under embargo temporarily and access to its full-text version will only be granted later.
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General information
Beadle's Office
pedel@bb.leidenuniv.nl
+31 71 527 7211