Synthetic Biology · Computation · Engineering

Matthew
Lucia

Building life from the bottom up: engineering artificial cells, Pdu microcompartment proteins, and computational tools for synthetic biology.

01 Artificial Cells
02 Pdu Microcompartments
03 Molecular Docking
04 Compositions & Cello

Research

Artificial cells &
Pdu proteins

Synthetic Biology

Artificial Cells

Engineering minimal living systems from lipid vesicles and purified molecular machinery. Reconstituting gene expression, metabolism, and division inside synthetic membrane compartments to understand the fundamental principles of life.

Lipid vesicles Cell-free TXTL Bottom-up assembly Minimal cells

Protein Engineering

Pdu Microcompartment Proteins

Engineering bacterial microcompartment shell proteins from the Pdu system to create synthetic nanopores. Combining computational docking and molecular dynamics to design protein-membrane interfaces for controlled transport.

PduA / PduB BMC shells Nanopore design MD simulation

Projects

Projects &
writing

Live

Neuroaesthetic Music

An interactive research writeup on how spectral timbre predicts emotional response to contemporary music. Combines ML, biosignals, and Grisey's spectralism.

Resources

Lab tools &
webapps

Live

Plate Reader Viz

Upload plate reader data and visualize absorption or fluorescence curves. Built for the DTE and Kamat labs.

Live

Technical Replicate Combiner

Enter technical replicates (mean, SD, n) and compute the pooled biological replicate. Paste directly from Excel or Prism; copy results back out.

Music

Compositions
& performance

Original compositions alongside cello performance. The name @cellobuilder is a metaphor: building music the way an engineer builds systems, from first principles.

Watch on YouTube  →