Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for September
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Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series
Fri, Sep 06, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Dennis Discher, Ph.D., Robert D. Bent Professor, and Director, Physical Sciences Oncology Center/Project University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Talk Title: From Anti-Tumor Macrophages to Nuclear Mechanobiology
Abstract: Acquired immunity against tumors can in principle exploit the genetic differences that always drive cancers. Myeloid-type innate immune cells typically initiate immunity, but the cohesiveness and microenvironment of solid tumors tends to oppose such functions. We engineer tumoricidal macrophages that engulf cancer cells to initiate acquired immunity, and have discovered a cooperative mechanism for overcoming tumor cohesion. Nucleus mechanosensing has a role in model systems and helps clarify a broader landscape mechano-regulation that extends to trends for mutations across different liquid and solid tumors.
Biography: The Discher lab at Penn has contributed across cell and molecular bioengineering, biophysics, and materials biology. The lab discovered matrix elasticity effects on stem cell differentiation (Cell 2006) and nucleus mechanosensing (Science 2013). Recent efforts have focused on the mechanbiology of genetic changes in cancer and engineering of macrophages against solid tumors (Nat BME 2023). The latter followed molecular studies of ‘foreign’ versus ‘self’ recognition (Science 2013) and were motivated by delivery studies of block copolymer nano-assemblies (Science 2002). Discher is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine, the US National Academy of Engineering, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he serves on Editorial Boards of Science, Molecular Biology of the Cell, and PNAS Nexus, among other journals.
Host: Peter Wang
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series
Fri, Sep 13, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Gerald E. Loeb, M.D., Professor, Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC
Talk Title: Bayesian Exploration for Intelligent Haptics and Medical Diagnosis
Abstract: In research, one thing leads to another, often surprisingly. After being asked by DARPA to model control systems for prosthetic arms, we realized that their hands needed tactile sensing technology that didn’t exist, so we invented that and started a company to build the sensors. Then we needed a new form of artificial intelligence to decide what exploratory movements to use with those sensors, so we invented that. Then we realized that the problem of haptic identification of objects was similar to the problem of clinical differential diagnosis. At each step, the clinician must figure out what observation or test will be most useful in arriving at a final diagnosis. So we’re developing that application of Bayesian Exploration now and testing it in a clinic in the USC Ostrow School of Dentistry.
Biography: Gerald Loeb received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University and has led research in fundamental neurophysiology and applied neural prosthetics at the US NIH, Queen’s University (Canada) and now University of Southern California. He is Fellow of the US National Academy of Inventors and has been a founder or principal in several companies that have commercialized his inventions. He now directs the USC BME Innovation Space and teaches students about the development and regulation of medical devices.
Host: Jennifer Treweek
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series
Fri, Sep 20, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Weixin Tang, Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Chemistry- University of Chicago
Talk Title: Directed evolution of adenosine deaminases for epigenetic profiling and gene editing
Abstract: N6-methyladenosine (m6A), the most prevalent internal mRNA modification in higher eukaryotes, depicts a regulatory network extensively involved in the mRNA life cycle. To elucidate the multitude of functions served by m6A, we developed evolved TadA-assisted N6-methyladenine sequencing (eTAM-seq), an enzyme-assisted sequencing technology that detects and quantifies m6A by global adenosine deamination. With eTAM-seq, we profiled m6A in the transcriptomes of cell lines and mouse tissues. I will discuss development, applications, and current limitations of eTAM-seq. For the second half of my talk, I will present our recent progress on directed evolution of an adenine base editor (ABE) with increased context compatibility. Existing ABEs function most effectively when the target A is in a TA context. We report directed evolution of TadA8r, a new TadA variant that extends potent deoxyadenosine deamination to RA (R = A or G). ABE8r outperforms existing editors in correcting 41.9% of 9,407 disease-associated G:C-to-A:T transitions in the human genome, and shows a controlled off-target profile. I will present the development and applications of TadA8r in gene editing. I will also discuss how directed evolution may be harnessed to shape context compatibility and specificity.
Biography: Weixin Tang received her B.S. in Chemistry and Biology from Tsinghua University and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She was a Jane Coffin Childs Memorial postdoctoral fellow at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard prior to joining the Chemistry Department at the University of Chicago as a Neubauer Family Assistant Professor in 2019. The Tang Lab works towards a comprehensive toolbox for precise manipulation of the human genome, and for detecting epigenetic and epitranscriptomic modifications at high resolution. Tang was named a Searle Scholar in 2021. She also received the NIBIB Trailblazer Award and the Packard Fellowship for science and engineering.
Host: Peter Wang
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series
Fri, Sep 27, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Xiaoming (Shawn) He, , Fishcell Department of Bioengineering University of Maryland, College Park
Talk Title: Bioinspired Multiscale Engineering of Cell and Molecule-Based Medicines
Abstract: Over the past decades, tremendous advances have been made in field of medicine. As a result, not only small molecules, peptides/proteins, and nucleic acids (aka, conventional molecule-based medicine) but also cells, tissues, and organs (aka, cell-based medicine), are extensively explored as medicine today. However, the challenges to both medicines in terms of their safety and efficacy from their procurement and fabrication to the clinical uses, is still enormous. The issues range from poor bioavailability to systemic toxicity and low specificity for molecule-based medicine. For cell-based medicine, non-physiological culture in vitro, immune rejection and uncontrolled differentiation of stem cells in vivo, graft-versus-host disease for therapeutic immune cells, and difficulty of long-term banking toward clinical use, are additional hurdles. We have been working on addressing these challenges facing today’s medicine with bioinspired multiscale engineering strategies. In this talk, I will show our recent data on developing novel bioinspired multiscale systems for engineering both cell and molecule-based medicines, particularly stem cells, immune cells, and RNAs, to improve their quality, safety, and efficacy for combating various diseases including heart attack and cancer.
Biography: Xiaoming (Shawn) He is a Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2004 from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and conducted postdoctoral training from 2004-2007 at Harvard Medical School-Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA. He was an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina from 2007-2011, and Associate Professor and Full Professor at the Ohio State University from 2011-2017. His current research is focused on developing micro and nanoscale biomaterials and devices to engineer and bank totipotent, pluripotent, and multipotent stem cells for the treatment and early detection of various diseases including but not limited to cancer, infertility, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and neurological disorders. His research has been funded by grants with him as the PI from various private foundations like the American Cancer Society (ACS) and government agencies like the NSF and NIH (9 R01s), including the ACS Research Scholar Grant and the NCI Innovative Research in Cancer Nanotechnology (IRCN) Grant. He has published ~150 peer-reviewed journal articles in high-ranking journals including Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Biomedical Engineering, and Nature Communications, in addition to one book and four book chapters. He is an Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Medical Devices published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He served as the Chair of the ASME Biotransport Committee, and has been an associate editor or editorial board member of five different journals. He is a fellow of the ASME and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Host: Keyue Shen
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.
