Pune KnOT: Designing Life: From Evolution to Engineering

​The next Pune Knowledge on Tap will be on Thursday, 26th March, with Dr. Anu Raghunathan, on "Designing Life: From Evolution to Engineering — The Synthetic Biology Revolution"

For billions of years, life on Earth has evolved through natural selection, shaping the remarkable diversity of organisms and biological functions we see today. In the past two decades, however, biology has undergone a profound shift. Advances in DNA synthesis, genome editing, and systems biology now allow scientists not only to read the genetic code of life, but also to design and rewrite it. This emerging field, ‘synthetic biology’ applies engineering principles to living systems, enabling cells to be programmed to produce medicines, sustainable materials, and new technologies. In this talk, I will explore how biology is moving from a science of discovery to a science of design, and what it means to engineer living systems. From microbes that brew beer to cells that manufacture life-saving drugs, synthetic biology is transforming how we understand and harness life

Dr. Anu Raghunathan is a Chief Scientist at CSIR–National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, where she leads research at the intersection of systems biology, synthetic biology, and metabolic engineering. Her work focuses on understanding and redesigning living systems, with applications ranging from antibiotic resistance and cancer metabolism to engineered microbes and the future of programmable biology. She has previously worked at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and is also active in science communication (her recent TEDxPune talk on “The Code of Life" has over 200000 views).

​Other details

• ​​Timing:

  • ​​6:30pm: registration, mingling, ordering

  • ​​7:00pm: Topic warmup and quiz

  • ​​7:15pm: main talk

  • ​​8:30pm: main event ends, but feel free to stick around afterwards to mingle, interact with the speaker or us, and have dinner.

• ​​Parking: There is parking in the basement (level -2) of the building—but be careful, big cars might not be able to navigate the turn. It is self-parking, you can park anywhere, but please do it mindfully, and don't park in such a way as to eat up multiple spots. You can also find parking on the street, either on the main ITI road or the bylanes.

• ​​Payment: ₹300 per person will be collected at the entrance, which can be applied towards your bill. (No, you don't have to drink beer or any other alcohol!)

• ​​No Age Restriction: There is no age restriction. You can bring children along.