Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series

Speaker: Ashutosh Chilkoti,Ph.D., Alan L. Kaganov Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science and Chemistry, Senior Associate Dean at Pratt School of Engineering and Professor for the Department of Biomedical Engineering Duke University, Durham, USA

Talk Title: Molecular Engineering of Biointerfaces and Intrinsically Disordered Proteins”

Abstract: I will describe two disparate projects in this talk that illustrate the diversity of ongoing workin my laboratory. In the first half, I will describe a point-of-care diagnostic—the D4 assay—that we have developed, in which all reagents are printed and stored on a “non-fouling”—protein and cell resistant—polymer brush. The D4 assay has no moving parts, does notrequire a cold-chain, and works from a single drop of blood with minimal user intervention,and measures the concentration of multiple analytes with a sub-picomolar limit of detection.In the second half, I will introduce synthetic intrinsically disordered proteins (SynIDPs) thatare genetically encoded polymers of short peptide repeats that exhibit upper criticalsolution temperature (UCST) or lower critical solution temperature (LCST) phase behavior,like many naturally occurring IDPs. Because of their simplicity, the phase behavior ofSynIDPs can be rationally tuned at the molecular level by control of their sequence,composition, and chain length. I will describe how SynIDPs can be used to develop simplebut powerful tools for biotechnology and for the design of synthetic biomolecularcondensates in live cells to control diverse cellular functions

Biography: I will describe two disparate projects in this talk that illustrate the diversity of ongoing workin my laboratory. In the first half, I will describe a point-of-care diagnostic—the D4 assay—that we have developed, in which all reagents are printed and stored on a “non-fouling”—protein and cell resistant—polymer brush. The D4 assay has no moving parts, does notrequire a cold-chain, and works from a single drop of blood with minimal user intervention,and measures the concentration of multiple analytes with a sub-picomolar limit of detection.In the second half, I will introduce synthetic intrinsically disordered proteins (SynIDPs) thatare genetically encoded polymers of short peptide repeats that exhibit upper criticalsolution temperature (UCST) or lower critical solution temperature (LCST) phase behavior,like many naturally occurring IDPs. Because of their simplicity, the phase behavior ofSynIDPs can be rationally tuned at the molecular level by control of their sequence,composition, and chain length. I will describe how SynIDPs can be used to develop simplebut powerful tools for biotechnology and for the design of synthetic biomolecularcondensates in live cells to control diverse cellular functions.

Host: Eunji Chung

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

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.

Add to Google Calendar