Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40132542›Full record

ArticleCell reports methods2025

Directing microbial co-culture composition using cybernetic control.

Ting An Lee, Jan Morlock, John Allan, Harrison Steel

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cell reports methods, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Dynamic Robust Control of Microbial Communities Using Cybergenetics.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026
    Article
  5. Review
  6. Review
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Ting An LeeDepartment of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK.
Jan MorlockDepartment of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
John AllanDepartment of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK.
Harrison SteelDepartment of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK. Electronic address: harrison.steel@eng.ox.ac.uk.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We demonstrate a cybernetic approach to control the composition of a P. putida and E. coli co-culture that does not rely on genetic engineering to interface cells with computers. We first show how composition information can be extracted from different bioreactor measurements and then combined with a system model using an extended Kalman filter to generate accurate estimates of a noisy system. We then demonstrate that adjusting the culture temperature can drive the composition due to the species' different optimal temperatures. Using a proportional-integral control algorithm, we are able to track dynamic references with real-time noise rejection and independence from starting conditions such as inoculation ratio. We stabilize the co-culture for 7 days (∼250 generations) with the experiment ending before the cells could adapt out of the control. This cybernetic framework is broadly applicable, with different microbes' unique characteristics enabling robust control over diverse co-cultures.

Indexed as

CyberneticsEscherichia coliPseudomonas putidaAlgorithmsBioreactorsCoculture TechniquesTemperaturebiofilmbioreactorco-culturecontrolCP: biotechnologyCP: microbiologycybergeneticcyberneticPI controlsystems biology

Identifiers

PMID40132542
PMCPMC12049730

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.