Nathaniel Gaut

Role: 
Graduate Student
Location: 
University of Minnesota
Education: 

B.S. in Human Biology at the University of California, San Diego in 2015.

Research Interests: 

Nathan is working on developing synthetic minimal cells as a tool for a wide range of applications, from simplified models of cellular processes to highly modular bioreactors. In this research, he uses synthetic biology to re-engineer the machinery of life, to create new research tools and products.
Currently, he is studying interactions between RNA binding proteins and ribozymes, enabling new ways of synthetic cell gene regulation as well as a combinatorial fusion system for engineering complex genetic network interactions in synthetic minimal cells, with applications in metabolic engineering.

Selected publications: 

Ponde de Albuquerque, C; Liang, J; Gaut, NJ; Zhou, H. “Molecular circuitry of the SUMO pathway in controlling sumoylation homeostasis and suppressing genome rearrangements.” J. Biol. Chem. (2016) jbc. M116. 716399

Heili, JM; Gomez-Garcia, J; Gaut, NJ; Cash, BW; Aufdembrink, LM; Heffron, BA; Shirley, JD; Carlson, EE; Adamala, KP; Engelhart, AE. “Real-Time Visualization of in Vitro Transcription of a Fluorescent RNA Aptamer: An Experiment for the Upper-Division Undergraduate or First-Year Graduate Laboratory.” J. Chem. Educ. 95 (2018) 1867-1871