Events Calendar

2019 Fred S. Grodins Keynote Lecture

Speaker: Matthew Tirrell, Ph.D., Professor and Dean, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory

Talk Title: Polyelectrolyte complexation: From phase separation to self-assembly to therapeutic nanoparticles

Abstract: Polyelectrolyte complexation expands the toolset for useful self-assembled objects and materials. Liquid-liquid phase separation can be used for man-made encapsulation applications just as it has evolved for creating membrane-less intracellular compartments in biology. Micelles formed from block copolymers with electrostatically complexed cores can be made and used for therapeutic protein and nucleic acid delivery. Examples of these properties will be discussed culminating in our work on the delivery of micro-RNA inhibitors to retard undesired vascular remodeling in atherosclerosis and arterio-venousfistulae.

Biography: In 2011, Matthew Tirrell was appointed as the founding Pritzker Director and Dean of the Faculty of the Institute for Molecular Engineering and established the first University of Chicago engineering
program, which he continues to oversee (now the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering). Professor Tirrell simultaneously served as Deputy Laboratory Director for Science (September 2015 - April 2018) and Chief Research Officer (January 2017 - March 2018) at Argonne National Laboratory. Immediately prior to joining the University of Chicago, he was the Arnold and Barbara Silverman Professor and Chair of Bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley, with additional appointments in chemical engineering and materials science & engineering, as well as a Faculty Scientist appointment at the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Dr. Tirrell completed ten years as Dean of Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara on June 30, 2009. From 1977 to 1999, he was on the faculty of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota, where he served as department head from 1994 to 1999. Tirrell received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Northwestern
University in 1973 and a Ph.D. in 1977 in Polymer Science from the University of Massachusetts. He has co-authored more than 390 papers and one book, has supervised over 95 Ph.D. students and 50 postdoctoral researchers. Professor Tirrell is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers, the AAAS, and the American Physical Society.

Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering

More Info: https://bme.usc.edu/about/keynote-lecture-series/abstracts/

Location: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) - 101

Audiences: Department of Biomedical Engineering faculty and students

Contact: Greta Harrison

Event Link: https://bme.usc.edu/about/keynote-lecture-series/abstracts/