Biological systems have evolved over billions of years, with natural selection favoring the re-shaping of molecular structures and metabolic pathways that enhance survival in a continuously fluctuating chemical environment. Yet these solutions, optimized for fitness rather than human utility, are often suboptimal for applications in areas such as efficient chemistry, renewable energy, and medicine.

Directed evolution—a methodology inspired by natural selection but conducted in the laboratory—enables scientists to engineer proteins, enzymes, and even entire metabolic pathways with enhanced or novel functionalities. This approach involves iterative rounds of mutation and selection to traverse the vast "fitness landscapes" of molecular function. Initially laborious and time-consuming, directed evolution has become a central strategy in modern biotechnology, thanks to significant advances in high-throughput screening, rational design, and computational modeling.

The pioneering work of Frances Arnold, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018, demonstrated that laboratory evolution can reliably outperform rational design in engineering complex molecular functions. Her contributions established directed evolution as a transformative force across chemistry and biology.

Beyond individual enzymes, synthetic biology has emerged as a complementary field, aiming to build and rewire entire cellular processes. Researchers are designing new-to-nature metabolic pathways, including those capable of capturing and converting CO₂, offering novel solutions to climate and sustainability challenges. Advances in membrane biology, minimal cell design, and the recreation of basic metabolic modules have further expanded the scope of cellular engineering. Recent work has also broadened the focus of re-engineering biology beyond catalysis to the fine-tuning of protein conformational landscapes and dynamic regulation. Insights from statistical thermodynamics and free-energy landscape theory are reshaping our understanding of how allosteric networks evolve and adapt, balancing affinity, efficiency, and environmental responsiveness. Strategies now aim not only to optimize catalysis, but also to reprogram internal communication networks and the dynamic behavior of proteins, enabling the design of more adaptable and responsive molecular systems.

Technological innovations have further reshaped the landscape. Ultrahigh-throughput methods, such as droplet-based microfluidics, allow millions of enzyme variants to be screened rapidly, accelerating the exploration of protein sequence space. Concurrently, developments in real-time biosensing and wearable molecular monitors are beginning to bridge the gap between engineered biological systems and direct clinical or industrial applications.

Artificial intelligence has entered the field as a powerful accelerator. Large-scale protein language models and AI-driven structure prediction tools are enabling the in-silico design of functional biomolecules at an unprecedented pace, opening vast new territories for synthetic biology and biotechnology.

This year’s Onassis Lectures are devoted to the advances, challenges, and future prospects of re-engineering biology through directed evolution and synthetic cellular pathways. The series will highlight groundbreaking technologies and conceptual innovations, featuring presentations from world leaders in enzyme engineering, synthetic metabolism, minimal cell construction, thermodynamic modeling of protein evolution, and AI-driven biological design.

Lectures:

Οι Διαλέξεις Ωνάση που διεξάγονται από το έτος 2001 σε συνεργασία με το Κοινωφελές Ίδρυμα Ωνάση και το Ι.Τ.Ε., έχουν ως στόχο την περαιτέρω εκπαίδευση και προώθηση νέων, ταλαντούχων επιστημόνων, μεταπτυχιακών και τελειόφοιτων φοιτητών από την Ελλάδα και το Εξωτερικό στο χώρο των Θετικών επιστημών.

Για έως 35 Έλληνες και έως 15 μη Έλληνες φοιτητές που επιλέγονται με βάση τις Ακαδημαϊκές τους επιδόσεις προσφέρεται οικονομική ενίσχυση από το Ίδρυμα Ωνάση για τη συμμετοχή τους στις Διαλέξεις.

Λεπτομερείς πληροφορίες για τις Διαλέξεις Ωνάση περιέχονται στην ιστοσελίδα:

 https://www.forth.gr/onassis/index.php?show=2025-07-07

Η καταληκτική ημερομηνία υποβολής των αιτήσεων είναι η 31η Μαϊου 2025.