Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series

Speaker: Dr. Ellen Sletten, Ph.D., , Professor of Chemistry University of California Los Angeles

Talk Title: Next generation optical diagnostics and responsive therapeutics facilitated by poly(2-oxazoline).

Abstract: New approaches are necessary to solve major challenges in healthcare, which currently falls short on early detection of disease, effective therapeutics that minimize off-target effects, and robust methods for personalized medicine, among others. The Sletten Group tackles these challenges by harnessing bioorthogonality– not in the covalent chemistry sense that it was first introduced, but more broadly by capitalizing on abiotic non-covalent interactions and/or low energy wavelengths of light that are minimally produced by biology. This talk will highlight two stories: 1) the development of biocompatible contrast agents for the shortwave infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum and 2) our discovery of macromolecular crowding as a new responsive stimulus for nanocarriers. In both these stories, poly(2-oxazoline)s (POx)– a hydrophilic, biocompatible, poly(ethylene glycol)-replacement polymer– play critical roles in our technologies. The modular synthesis of POx enables highly functional polymers to be prepared with minimal post-polymerization steps, which offer means to solubilize and stabilize fluorophores as well as control the assembly of nanoemulsions. 


Biography: Prof. Ellen Sletten received her BS in Chemistry from Stonehill College in 2006. Ellen pursued her PhD in Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley with Prof. Carolyn Bertozzi. Her thesis work involved the optimization and development of bioorthogonal chemistries and their subsequent applications in labeling living systems. Upon graduation in 2011, Ellen joined the laboratory of Prof. Tim Swager at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow where she worked with soft fluorous materials for use in fluorescent sensors. Ellen joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA as an Assistant Professor and John McTague Career Development Chair in 2015 and promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2021 and Full Professor in 2023.

Host: Maral Mousavi

Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Carla Stanard