Assistant Professor @ Stanford ChemE synthetic biology, biomolecular engineering https://gaolab.blog/https://bsky.app/profile/synbiogaolab.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/synbiogaolab.bsky.social/post/3mjsi5ugsec2vDon't feel bad about missing the mSBW abstract deadline. We have extended it! We also keep the registration fee affordable ($150 for students) so that mammalian synbio-curious trainees can check it out, especially if you are in the Atlanta area. Meeting link below:18 Apr 2026 22:24 +0000at://did:plc:ljvjych5cprcuqoltzpyjgse/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjsi5ugsec2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/synbiogaolab.bsky.social/post/3mjqfxigfkk2oA neat amplification system to improve the limited sensitivity/dynamic range of RADAR https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssynbio.5c0066218 Apr 2026 02:39 +0000at://did:plc:ljvjych5cprcuqoltzpyjgse/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjqfxigfkk2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/synbiogaolab.bsky.social/post/3mjkazny2lc24We just updated our Germinal preprint for de novo antibody-like binder design! Featuring additional scFv designs, extensive experimental validation of epitope specificity and polyreactivity, and CryoEM structure courtesy of Jim Zhang and Bing Rao from Feng Liang's lab. [contains quote post or other embedded content]15 Apr 2026 15:55 +0000at://did:plc:ljvjych5cprcuqoltzpyjgse/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjkazny2lc24https://bsky.app/profile/synbiogaolab.bsky.social/post/3m5ig2otymk2xHave you ever wondered what it would've been like to live in a different kind of society? After a record number of rejections, I'm self-archiving my first attempt at... flash fiction, featuring "Hemingway-esque economy" and "Ishiguro's measured revelation" (if you ask Claude).13 Nov 2025 05:18 +0000at://did:plc:ljvjych5cprcuqoltzpyjgse/app.bsky.feed.post/3m5ig2otymk2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/synbiogaolab.bsky.social/post/3lzlugqoylk2eHaving often dealt with the frustration of binder-limited projects, we sought a more accessible source for nanobodies than yeast display or llama. Here we introduce Germinal, computationally designing antibody-like binders with such a hit rate that only tens need to be screened for each target.24 Sep 2025 16:32 +0000at://did:plc:ljvjych5cprcuqoltzpyjgse/app.bsky.feed.post/3lzlugqoylk2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/synbiogaolab.bsky.social/post/3lz5vw3yevc2kWe previously built programmable RNA sensors based on editing by housekeeping ADAR enzymes. But they can't sense arbitrary sequences due to design constraints (analogous to PAM for CRISPR). With our new "modulADAR", we overcome that constraint by leveraging ADAR's modularity.19 Sep 2025 03:21 +0000at://did:plc:ljvjych5cprcuqoltzpyjgse/app.bsky.feed.post/3lz5vw3yevc2khttps://bsky.app/profile/synbiogaolab.bsky.social/post/3lu6gbgxxss26Have you always wanted to take a protein from its native context and make it work elsewhere? Our novel sampler computationally “cytosolize” a secreted enzyme while maintaining its structure, generalizable to other multi-objective guided generation tasks https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.11.664238v117 Jul 2025 17:08 +0000at://did:plc:ljvjych5cprcuqoltzpyjgse/app.bsky.feed.post/3lu6gbgxxss26https://bsky.app/profile/synbiogaolab.bsky.social/post/3lqpsrizy622eThe machine-guided humanization paper is out after peer review! https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2025.101299 Key contributions from current and previous international students on visas, representing 5+ countries. [contains quote post or other embedded content]03 Jun 2025 17:26 +0000at://did:plc:ljvjych5cprcuqoltzpyjgse/app.bsky.feed.post/3lqpsrizy622ehttps://bsky.app/profile/synbiogaolab.bsky.social/post/3llwsjzttts2uGrateful for the recognition and for my team's dedication. When I wrote it in Oct, I didn't anticipate that the title would feel defiant. The original draft even had a now quaint reference to "the comparative comfort of the ivory tower", which was wisely removed. [contains quote post or other embedded content]03 Apr 2025 21:05 +0000at://did:plc:ljvjych5cprcuqoltzpyjgse/app.bsky.feed.post/3llwsjzttts2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/synbiogaolab.bsky.social/post/3llhb5qomqs2pLIDAR is out! rdcu.be/efugD We are one baby step closer to making it useful for therapeutics. NIH high-risk high-reward program provides key support. [contains quote post or other embedded content]28 Mar 2025 16:44 +0000at://did:plc:ljvjych5cprcuqoltzpyjgse/app.bsky.feed.post/3llhb5qomqs2phttps://bsky.app/profile/synbiogaolab.bsky.social/post/3ljc2gcogak2pSo we beat on. Gene/cell therapies would benefit many patients, but often use proteins that could be recognized as non-self by our immune system and cause problems. We combine algorithms to build proteins that are therapeutically relevant and can masquerade as our own parts https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.02.24.63991801 Mar 2025 04:09 +0000at://did:plc:ljvjych5cprcuqoltzpyjgse/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljc2gcogak2phttps://bsky.app/profile/synbiogaolab.bsky.social/post/3lfsimis4zk2tProteases might serve as versatile control knobs for gene and cell therapies, but there looms the risk of immunogenicity as we and others have been using viral proteases. We now report a control system based on a an engineered human protease and its clinically approved inhibitor. rdcu.be/d6kVt https://rdcu.be/d6kVt15 Jan 2025 19:25 +0000at://did:plc:ljvjych5cprcuqoltzpyjgse/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfsimis4zk2t