Vatsan Raman
@vatsanraman
Associate Professor, UW Madison, synthetic biologist
Thrilled to unveil PhageMaP—a powerful method for mapping phage gene essentiality and decoding gene-environment-function relationships. We created comprehensive gene essentiality maps for model and non-model phages across diverse hosts. Discovered key 'counters' & 'triggers' to…
Excited to share our new work—PhageMaP, a high-throughput platform for genome-wide knockout screening in diverse phages across multiple hosts. PhageMap reveals essential, non-essential and conditionally-essential genes, interactors with host anti-phage defenses & enables rational…
Phage metagenomes hold powerful secrets! This article breaks down our recent work using Meta-SIFT to uncover functional motifs hidden in viral genomes—and how we used them to engineer phages that kill bacteria responsible for food-borne outbreaks. @ScienceAdvances Phenomenal…
The @vatsanraman lab developed a tool to identify short patterns in phage genomes that make phages effective at killing bacteria. They then used the sequences to enhance phages' ability to kill E. coli strains implicated in food-borne outbreaks. Read more: biochem.wisc.edu/2025/06/13/res…
We are excited to receive a WARF Neurotechnology award to develop a scalable, clinical diagnostic for detecting neurodegenerative disease using engineered biosensors and deep learning. Thank you, @WARF, for supporting our work. warf.org/news/fueling-t…
Designing proteins for multiple, often competing objectives is a major challenge. In our new preprint, we use deep learning + protein language models to design phages with higher activity, defined specificity, and generalizable infectivity—meeting 26 design goals across several…
Phage metagenomes are an untapped trove of functional sequences, but rapid sequence divergence limits traditional search tools. We developed Meta-SIFT, an experiment-guided method to mine functional motifs. Using these, we engineered phages with tailored host range, enhanced…
Multidrug efflux pumps are dynamic molecular machines — but how do they achieve broad yet defined specificity? And how is specificity wired to energy efficiency? Using high-throughput mutational screens, we systematically deconstruct the contributions of substrate recognition,…
Promiscuous membrane transporters move everything—but how? In this perspective, we make a case for high-throughput genetic screens as a key to decoding polyspecificity, enabling drug design, and advancing synthetic biology. cell.com/cell-chemical-…
I’m grateful to the Vilas Foundation for this recognition—thank you!
Congratulations to Professor @vatsanraman on being named a @UWiscResearch Vilas Associate. “This award is truly meaningful, as it enables us to ask bigger, bolder questions and push the boundaries of science and technology,” says Raman. biochem.wisc.edu/2025/03/11/vat…
Thrilled to celebrate my Ph.D. advisor David Baker's Nobel Ceremony in Stockholm this week! What an illustrious and deeply inspiring career. It was an honor to bear witness to this milestone
This is an excellent news article highlighting our recent biosensor design work! Kudos to Kyle Nishikawa @uwmadisonipib and Jackie Chen @CMB_UWMadison , the talented graduate students in my lab who led this effort. A fun and fruitful collaboration with Air Force Research Labs…
Biosensors are a cornerstone of synthetic biology! Thrilled to share Sensor-seq, a scalable, sequencing-based platform for designing allosteric transcription factors (aTFs) that respond to non-native ligands. With Sensor-seq, we created aTFs to detect molecules like naltrexone,…
It is an honor to be named the inaugural SC Fang Endowed Professor of Biochemistry. Thank you, SC Fang family, for the support and recognition! biochem.wisc.edu/2024/11/01/ram…
Celebrating my PhD advisor David Baker's Nobel with my own lab people @UWMadison
My PhD advisor, David Baker, just won the Nobel Prize! 🎉 He is an inspirational scientific leader who not only does groundbreaking research but has also built an enduring, supportive community. Most importantly, he’s a genuinely kind human being. Congratulations David! I am so…
Thank you. It is an honor to be selected for the Romnes Award!
Congratulations again to Vatsan Raman (@vatsanraman) on being named a Romnes Fellow!
Thank you. It is an honor to receive this recognition.
Congratulations to Associate Professor Vatsan Raman (@vatsanraman) on receiving an H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship! Read more: biochem.wisc.edu/2024/07/31/war…
Excited to share PROD-ATAC, a single-cell tool to study chromatin perturbations caused by protein-coding variants. PROD-ATAC revealed mechanisms and relationships among oncofusions in 30+ cancer types, generating a global view of the oncogenic landscape. Phenomenal work done by…
Excited to present PHAGEPACK for quantifying genome-wide which bacterial host factors impact phage infectivity. PHAGEPACK combines CRISPRi with phage packaging. Reveals phage-host interactions, evolution, & host resistance. Great work by @chuchitboonthav! biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
We made the cover of @CellSystems! Elementary landscapes for two fitness functions reveal that combining them creates a more rugged landscape. This highlights the demand on a DNA-binding domain to evolve affinity for distinct half-sites @Jackson_Lab tinyurl.com/yc2web9a
