April 2026
Meet us at the conference SynCell 2026 in London! It will feature 4 talks from our lab: Laura, Yannick, Thibault and Federico. You can find the programme here:
https://iop.eventsair.com/syncell26/programme
March 2026
Yannick's paper on the optimization of PURE system with automation and active learning is out on bioRxiv:
https://www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2026.03.23.713685v1
February 2026
- We welcome João and Thijs, who are going to do their Master end project with Federico.
- Marijn's paper on "Combinatorial optimization of protein systems in synthetic cells "is available on bioRxiv:
https://www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2026.02.25.707944v1
November 2025
- Laura received the Starthèse prize on the 25th of November in Lyon for her project on the assembly of large DNA constructs with complex sequences (read the announcement on the TBI Newsletter). Starthèse is a national program that aims at stimulating entrepreneurship for young researchers and doctoral students.
- Enrica successfully defended her Master thesis at the TU Delft, congratulations!
October 2025
- MOSAIC makes the cover of ACS Synthetic Biology! (link)
- Céline and Laura constructed a 41-kbp synthetic genome encoding multiple cellular functions derived from various organisms and expressed it in PURE system. Read the preprint on bioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.16.682769.
September 2025
- Céline has brilliantly defended her PhD. We wish you all the best!
- We opened a new way for the screening and sorting of gene-expressing GUVs based on confocal images. Read the preprint by Marijn van den Brink et al. here.
January 2025
We present the first in vitro system producing the key building blocks of life: DNA, RNA, proteins, and lipids. Read about this work by Ana Restrepo Sierra, et al. on bioRxiv. (link to preprint).
October 2024
We created a Darwinian protocell that supports protein synthesis, DNA self-replication and adaptive evolution. See our recent paper by Zhanar Abil, Ana Restrepo Sierra, et al.
September 2024
We welcome Inés Barros Medina, PhD student in the lab of Prof. Germán Rivas (Madrid), who will stay 3 months in our group.
April 2024
Welcome to the new website of the Danelon group, the Synthetic Cell lab.
Ana defended her PhD thesis. Congratulations Dr. Restrepo-Sierra!!
March 2024
MOSAIC is available as a preprint on bioRxiv. Great collaboration with Nico Claassens lab at Wageningen University. Congratulations Marijn and Tim!
Jan 2024
We welcome Yannick Bernard-Lapeyre as a new PhD student.
Sep 2023
Laura Sierra Heras started her PhD in the lab, the first one in Toulouse.
July 2023
After 13 wonderful years in the department of Bionanoscience at the TU Delft, I moved back to the 'pink city', Toulouse, where I set up the new Synthetic Cell Lab. The group in Delft is still alive, with four fantastic PhD students