Events for February
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Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Fri, Feb 02, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Michael Elowitz, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering and Applied Physics at Caltech
Talk Title: Many to many protein networks: modules of multicellularity
Abstract: In multicellular organisms, many biological pathways exhibit a curious structure, involving sets of protein variants that bind or interact with one another in a many-to-many fashion. What functions do these seemingly complicated architectures provide. And can similar architectures be useful in synthetic biology. Here, I will discuss recent work in our lab that shows how many to many circuits can function as versatile computational devices, explore the roles these computations play in natural biological contexts, and show how many-to-many architectures can be used to design synthetic multicellular behaviors.
Biography: Michael Elowitz is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering, and Applied Physics at Caltech. Dr. Elowitz's laboratory has introduced synthetic biology approaches to build and understand genetic circuits in living cells and tissues. As a graduate student with Stanislas Leibler, Elowitz developed the Repressilator, an artificial genetic clock that generates gene expression oscillations in individual E. coli cells. Since then, he has continued to design and build synthetic genetic circuits, bringing a “build to understand” approach to bacteria, yeast, and mammalian cells. He and his lab showed that gene expression is intrinsically stochastic, or ‘noisy’, and revealed how noise functions to enable probabilistic differentiation, time-based regulation, and other functions. Currently, Elowitz’s lab is bringing synthetic approaches to understand and program cell-cell communication, epigenetic memory and cell fate control, and to provide foundations for future therapeutic devices. His lab also co-develops the synthetic “MEMOIR” system that allows cells to record their own lineage histories. Elowitz received his PhD in Physics from Princeton University and did postdoctoral research at Rockefeller University. Honors include the HFSP Nakasone Award, MacArthur Fellowship, Presidential Early Career Award, Allen Distinguished Investigator Award, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and election to the National Academy of Sciences.
Host: Peter Wang
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 100 B
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
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Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Wed, Feb 07, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: X.Edward Guo, Ph.D., Columbia University, New York
Talk Title: Bone Bioengineering: Microstructure, Mechanics, Mechanobiology, and Beyond
Abstract: Bone bioengineering is a basic science of clinical significance in many medical fields, such as osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, or intervertebral disc degeneration. I will highlight our development of three-dimensional imaging analysis and modeling techniques for trabecular bone microstructure, its applications in basic science research of bone mechanics, and clinical applications in osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. We will discuss bone microstructural phenotypes in different races and their implications in genetic and precision medicine, anthropology, evolution, and mechanobiology of the skeletons. In parallel to these developments, we will also showcase how mechanobiology links to bone microstructure and mechanics
Biography: Dr. Guo was born and grew up in China. He received his B.S. in applied mechanics from Peking University. He continued his graduate studies in the US and received his M.S. in 1990 and Ph.D. in 1994 in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics from Harvard University-MIT. From 1994 to 1996, Professor Guo did his postdoctoral fellowship in the Orthopaedic Research Laboratories at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. In 1996, he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2003, Professor in 2007, and named Stanley Dicker Professor in 2018. He directs the Bone Bioengineering Laboratory in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia, focusing his research interests on micromechanics of bone tissue, computational biomechanics, and mechanobiology of bone. His past honors include the Young Investigator Recognition Award from the Orthopaedic Research Society, the National Research Service Award from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), a CAREER award from the US National Foundation of Science (NSF), Funds for Talented Professionals (Joint Research Fund for Overseas Chinese Young Scholars) from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and Christopher R Jacobs Award from Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). He is elected fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, BMES, American Society of Bone and Mineral Research, International Combined Orthopaedic Research Societies, and International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering. He was one of the founders and co-editor-in-chief of Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE), an international journal of BMES. He has served on many NIH, NSF, and NASA review panels. The Whitaker Foundation, the NSF, and the NIH have supported his research. He served as President of the International Chinese Musculoskeletal Research Society, the Society for Physical Regulation in Biology and Medicine, a Member of the Board of Directors of the Orthopaedic Research Society, and a Member of the Board of Directors of AIMBE. He founded the Special Interest Group (SIG) in CMBE at the BMES and served as its founding Chair. He served as the Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University from 2017 to 2023, and he founded the Northeast BME League and served as its inaugural President.
Host: Peter Wang
Location: Corwin D. Denney Research Center (DRB) - 145
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
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Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Fri, Feb 16, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Arnab Mukherjee, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering & Biological Engineering University of California, Santa Barbara
Talk Title: Engineering genetic reporters for molecular MRI
Abstract: The study of biological functions in intact organisms requires noninvasive genetic reporters to track cells, image gene expression, and monitor signaling pathways. While fluorescent and bioluminescent proteins are widely used as reporters, their utility in deep tissues is limited due to the scattering and absorption of light, which impede imaging beyond a depth of ~ 1 mm from the tissue surface. To overcome this challenge, my research harnesses unexpected connections between proteins and the physics of magnetic resonance (MRI) to create new biomolecular reporters for deep tissue imaging. In this talk, I will discuss our recent efforts to address three long-standing challenges in the development of viable MRI reporters: sensitivity, specificity, and sensor design. First, I will highlight our recent work in increasing reporter gene sensitivity to detect small numbers of genetically labeled cells, potentially, as few as hundred cells per imaging voxel. I will then describe the creation of chemically erasable reporters, which enable “hotspot” imaging with a low tissue background. Finally, I will discuss a new modular approach for programming MRI sensors based on protease modulation of reporter activity.
Biography: Arnab Mukherjee is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering & Biological Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Prior to arriving at UCSB, Dr. Mukherjee completed a James G. Boswell fellowship in Molecular Engineering at Caltech (working with Prof. Mikhail Shapiro) and obtained his Ph.D. in chemical and biomolecular engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The Mukherjee lab works at the intersection of molecular engineering, synthetic biology, and molecular imaging to create new genetic reporters and sensors for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Research in the Mukherjee group has been consistently supported by the NIH, Army, and foundations; and recognized with notable awards, including an Outstanding Young Investigator Award (NIH MIRA), a Discovery Award from the DoD, the NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, and a 2022 Scialog Fellows award in Advanced Bioimaging.
Host: Jenny Treweek
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 100 B
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
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Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Wed, Feb 21, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Konstantinos Konstantopoulos, Ph.D., William H. Schwarz Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering The Johns Hopkins University
Talk Title: Cell Mechanosensing and Prognostic Assays in Cancer
Abstract: Cell locomotion is a critical step in the process of cancer metastasis, as it enables cancerous cells dissociating from a primary tumor to navigate through interstitial tissues and ultimately colonize distant organs. Metastasizing cells migrate through three-dimensional (3D) longitudinal channel-like tracks created by various anatomical structures or generated via remodeling of extracellular matrix by cancer-associated stroma cells. This seminar will present a multidisciplinary approach, integrating bioengineering tools with molecular and cell biology techniques to understand cancer cell migration in precisely engineered microenvironments, which recapitulate in vitro the 3D longitudinal channels encountered in vivo. The plasticity of cancer cell migration will be discussed, focusing on how cells sense, adapt, and respond to different physical cues, such as confinement and extracellular fluid viscosity. Moreover, this presentation will outline how our current knowledge on the mechanisms of cell motility has led to the development of a novel microchannel assay capable of distinguishing aggressive from non-aggressive cancer cells for accurate diagnosis, prognosis and precision care of cancer patients.
Biography: Received the Diploma of Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece in 1989 and the doctorate in Chemical Engineering from Rice University, Houston, Texas in 1995. After his postdoctoral training in the Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering at Rice University, he joined the faculty of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Johns Hopkins in 1997, and served as Department Chair from 2008 till 2017. He holds secondary appointments in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Oncology. He is Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). His signature research focuses on how cells sense and respond to different physical cues. He is known for deciphering a new mechanism of tumor cell migration in confinement called the Osmotic Engine Model, for identifying extracellular fluid viscosity as a novel physical cue regulating cancer metastasis, and for developing innovative prognostic and diagnostic assays in cancer. He has also discovered key functional selectin ligands involved in tumor cell adhesion to host cells, and characterized biophysically these receptor-ligand interactions at the single-molecule level. He has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles in premier journals such as Nature, Cell, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Science Advances etc. His work has been cited ~13,500 times with an h-index of 66. Eleven of his mentees have launched successful academic careers in premier institutions, whereas another 18 have joined the government or industry and now hold leading appointments. He is currently the PI or MPI on multiple NIH R01 and CDMRP grants.
Host: Peter Wang
Location: Corwin D. Denney Research Center (DRB) - 145
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
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Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Fri, Feb 23, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Peter Chung, Ph.D., Robert D. Beyer Early Career Chair in the Natural Sciences and an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Southern California
Talk Title: Polymers and Parkinsons: Elucidating Protein Function through Soft Matter Paradigms and Techniques
Abstract: Despite being unequivocally linked to Parkinson’s disease, the function of alpha-synuclein remains unclear beyond transiently binding to the lipid membrane of synaptic vesicles (organelles filled with neurotransmitters). This is due, in part, to its intrinsically disordered nature; alpha-synuclein does not fold into a globular structure and instead behaves much like a biopolymer. While precluding traditional characterization methods, this makes alpha-synuclein incredibly amenable to investigation via a polymer physics framework. First, through purpose-designed membrane nanoparticles and advanced synchrotron X-ray methods I will demonstrate that alpha-synuclein binds to and collectively works to sterically-stabilize membrane surfaces, a biological manifestation of polyelectrolyte-stabilized colloids. I will then reconcile observed transient binding to synaptic vesicles by establishing that alpha-synuclein preferentially binds to osmotically-stressed membranes (a proxy for neurotransmitter-filled synaptic vesicles), a newly discovered biophysical function by which alpha-synuclein interrogates organelle contents. Utilizing these insights, I will contextualize alpha-synuclein as a guidepost that spatiotemporally directs non-equilibrium
Biography: Peter Chung is the Robert D. Beyer Early Career Chair in the Natural Sciences and an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southern California. His research focuses on the intersection of intrinsically disordered proteins (especially those unequivocally linked to neurodegenerative disease) and soft matter physics, with the hope of understanding emergent phenomena associated with these proteins and repurposing them for basic science research and novel therapeutic approaches. Previously he was a Kadanoff-Rice Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago and earned his PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara
Host: Eunji Chung
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 100 B
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
