Benjamin Blount

Contact

• workRoom B88 Biodiscovery Institute
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• work+44 (0) 115 84 30159
• Benjamin.Blount@nottingham.ac.uk
• https://blountlab.com

Research Summary

Ben's research focuses on the application of synthetic genome strains and techniques, both for sustainable biotechnology and to test how genome content and structure determines the behaviour of cells.

Areas of particular interest include:

The use of the SCRaMbLE recombination system that has been engineered into synthetic yeast genome strains to generate highly genomically diverse populations of cells. These populations can be sampled through selection and screening processes for enrichment of properties of interest for biotechnological applications. This includes improved use of waste carbon sources, improved production of high value chemicals, and improved tolerance to inhibitory conditions encountered in bioreactors.

The construction of synthetic yeast chromosomes housing essential genes and subsequent reduction of non-essential genes. By determining how readily genes are lost under various growth conditions, the importance of each gene to cell fitness under those conditions can be probed. This information could lead to the design of streamlined genomes suited to particular tasks.

Selected Publications

• BLOUNT, B. A., LU, X., DRIESSEN, M. R. M., JOVICEVIC, D., SANCHEZ, M. I., CIURKOT, K., ZHAO, Y., LAUER, S., MCKIERNAN, R. M., GOWERS, G. F., SWEENEY, F., FANFANI, V., LOBZAEV, E., PALACIOS-FLORES, K., WALKER, R. S. K., HESKETH, A., CAI, J., OLIVER, S. G., CAI, Y., STRACQUADANIO, G., MITCHELL, L. A., BADER, J. S., BOEKE, J. D. and ELLIS, T., 2023. Synthetic yeast chromosome XI design provides a testbed for the study of extrachromosomal circular DNA dynamics: Cell Genom Cell Genom. 3(11), 100418
• SCHINDLER, D., WALKER, R. S. K., JIANG, S., BROOKS, A. N., WANG, Y., MULLER, C. A., COCKRAM, C., LUO, Y., GARCIA, A., SCHRAIVOGEL, D., MOZZICONACCI, J., PENA, N., ASSARI, M., SANCHEZ OLMOS, M. D. C., ZHAO, Y., BALLERINI, A., BLOUNT, B. A., CAI, J., OGUNLANA, L., LIU, W., JONSSON, K., ABRAMCZYK, D., GARCIA-RUIZ, E., TUROWSKI, T. W., SWIDAH, R., ELLIS, T., PAN, T., ANTEQUERA, F., SHEN, Y., NIEDUSZYNSKI, C. A., KOSZUL, R., DAI, J., STEINMETZ, L. M., BOEKE, J. D. and CAI, Y., 2023. Design, construction, and functional characterization of a tRNA neochromosome in yeast: Cell Cell. 186(24), 5237-5253 e22
• BENJAMIN A BLOUNT, 2023. Synthetic bacterial genome upgraded for viral defence and biocontainment Nature. 615(7953), 592-594
• XIN XU, FELIX MEIER, BENJAMIN A BLOUNT, ISAK S PRETORIUS, TOM ELLIS, IAN T PAULSEN and THOMAS C WILLIAMS, 2023. Trimming the genomic fat: minimising and re-functionalising genomes using synthetic biology Nature Communications. 14(1), 1984

• View all publications

Past Research

Upon completion of his PhD working with the neurotoxin-producing pathogen Clostridium botulinum with Nigel Minton at the University of Nottingham, Ben moved to Imperial College London to join the newly opened synthetic biology centre. Here, working in the group of Tom Ellis, he shifted focus to promoter engineering and de novo orthogonal regulatory systems in yeast. After joining the international synthetic yeast genome consortium, Sc2.0, Ben led the effort to construct synthetic yeast chromosome XI in the Ellis lab. During this time, he demonstrated the use of the SRaMbLE system encoded into synthetic chromosomes to rapidly generate strains with improved phenotypes of interest.

• XIN XU, FELIX MEIER, BENJAMIN A BLOUNT, ISAK S PRETORIUS, TOM ELLIS, IAN T PAULSEN and THOMAS C WILLIAMS, 2023. Trimming the genomic fat: minimising and re-functionalising genomes using synthetic biology Nature Communications. 14(1), 1984
• BENJAMIN A BLOUNT, 2023. Synthetic bacterial genome upgraded for viral defence and biocontainment Nature. 615(7953), 592-594
• BLOUNT, B. A., LU, X., DRIESSEN, M. R. M., JOVICEVIC, D., SANCHEZ, M. I., CIURKOT, K., ZHAO, Y., LAUER, S., MCKIERNAN, R. M., GOWERS, G. F., SWEENEY, F., FANFANI, V., LOBZAEV, E., PALACIOS-FLORES, K., WALKER, R. S. K., HESKETH, A., CAI, J., OLIVER, S. G., CAI, Y., STRACQUADANIO, G., MITCHELL, L. A., BADER, J. S., BOEKE, J. D. and ELLIS, T., 2023. Synthetic yeast chromosome XI design provides a testbed for the study of extrachromosomal circular DNA dynamics: Cell Genom Cell Genom. 3(11), 100418
• SCHINDLER, D., WALKER, R. S. K., JIANG, S., BROOKS, A. N., WANG, Y., MULLER, C. A., COCKRAM, C., LUO, Y., GARCIA, A., SCHRAIVOGEL, D., MOZZICONACCI, J., PENA, N., ASSARI, M., SANCHEZ OLMOS, M. D. C., ZHAO, Y., BALLERINI, A., BLOUNT, B. A., CAI, J., OGUNLANA, L., LIU, W., JONSSON, K., ABRAMCZYK, D., GARCIA-RUIZ, E., TUROWSKI, T. W., SWIDAH, R., ELLIS, T., PAN, T., ANTEQUERA, F., SHEN, Y., NIEDUSZYNSKI, C. A., KOSZUL, R., DAI, J., STEINMETZ, L. M., BOEKE, J. D. and CAI, Y., 2023. Design, construction, and functional characterization of a tRNA neochromosome in yeast: Cell Cell. 186(24), 5237-5253 e22
• BLOUNT, BENJAMIN A. and ELLIS, TOM, 2019. Genome construction amends building codes NATURE. 569(7757), 492-494
• BLOUNT, B. A., GOWERS, G-O. F., HO, J. C. H., LEDESMA-AMARO, R., JOVICEVIC, D., MCKIERNAN, R. M., XIE, Z. X., LI, B. Z., YUAN, Y. J. and ELLIS, T., 2018. Rapid host strain improvement by in vivo rearrangement of a synthetic yeast chromosome NATURE COMMUNICATIONS. 9,
• BLOUNT, BENJAMIN A. and ELLIS, TOM, 2018. The Synthetic Genome Summer Course SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY. 3(1),
• AWAN, ALI R., BLOUNT, BENJAMIN A., BELL, DAVID J., SHAW, WILLIAM M., HO, JACK C. H., MCKIERNAN, ROBERT M. and ELLIS, TOM, 2017. Biosynthesis of the antibiotic nonribosomal peptide penicillin in baker's yeast NATURE COMMUNICATIONS. 8,
• CERONI, FRANCESCA, BLOUNT, BENJAMIN A. and ELLIS, TOM, 2016. Sensing the Right Time to Be Productive CELL SYSTEMS. 3(2), 116-117
• BLOUNT, BENJAMIN A., DRIESSEN, MAUREEN R. M. and ELLIS, TOM, 2016. GC Preps: Fast and Easy Extraction of Stable Yeast Genomic DNA SCIENTIFIC REPORTS. 6,
• JOVICEVIC, DEJANA, BLOUNT, BENJAMIN A. and ELLIS, TOM, 2014. Total synthesis of a eukaryotic chromosome: Redesigning and SCRaMbLE-ing yeast BIOESSAYS. 36(9), 855-860
• BLOUNT, BENJAMIN A., WEENINK, TIM and ELLIS, TOM, 2012. Construction of synthetic regulatory networks in yeast FEBS LETTERS. 586(15), 2112-2121
• BLOUNT, BENJAMIN A., WEENINK, TIM, VASYLECHKO, SERGE and ELLIS, TOM, 2012. Rational Diversification of a Promoter Providing Fine-Tuned Expression and Orthogonal Regulation for Synthetic Biology PLOS ONE. 7(3),