We're trying to make the mysterious process of evolution predictable enough to use for engineering. PRANCE gives us the ability to bring evolution into the lab timescale with parallelization to understand it better. Lab automation is bringing in concepts from more general software engineering, including AI into developing control code.
People are also integrating manipulator arms and multi-directional conveyor systems into liquid handling platforms. Overall, automation is including more advanced instrumentation and workflows. Feedback control improves continuous evolution success by preventing common failure modes like extinction.
This is essential during multiplex evolutions where molecules have varying starting activities and dynamic evolution stringency is critical for desired results. New scientific questions include exploring how different conditions impact evolution, and looking at the effects on phage propagation and evolution circuit efficiency. With these improved protein engineering tools, we are looking to engineer more sophisticated proteins that are sensitive to their environment and dynamic in function.
