BME PhD Prospectus Presentation: Robert Ovalle Jr.

Title: "Engineering Autobioluminescent Yeast Biosensors: Toward a Biohybrid Device for Real-Time Detection"

Advisory Committee: Mary Dunlop, PhD – BME (Chair) Miguel Jimenez, PhD – BME, MSE (Research Advisor) Rabia Yazicigil, PhD – ECE, BME Alexander Green, PhD – BME

Abstract: Whole-cell biosensors are widely used across environmental, agricultural, and medical applications, but most rely on fluorescent reporters, which are constrained by dependence on excitation hardware, autofluorescent background, photobleaching, and limited dynamic range. Bioluminescence avoids these limitations, yet most bioluminescent systems depend on exogenously supplied luciferin, restricting their use in deployable bio-hybrid devices. To address this, we aim to engineer substrate-independent, autobioluminescent yeast using both a fungal and a bacterial bioluminescence pathway, and to leverage these autobioluminescent systems to develop whole-cell biosensors with improved sensitivity, dynamic range, and signal-to-noise ratio. To pair with this reporter system, we will also develop a custom, low-cost photosensor device capable of quantifying the bioluminescent signal produced by these biosensor strains. Ultimately, this work will expand the genetic toolbox available for building bioluminescent whole-cell biosensors in yeast, and demonstrate a new approach for interfacing them with hardware in bio-hybrid devices.