Description:

Cells have an amazing ability to process information, make decisions, and change their state in response to changing environments – all behaviors that bioengineers and synthetic biologists are trying to harness for a broad array of applications in health and sustainability. These behaviors are encoded in the DNA genome of the cell as genetic ‘programs’ that use the basic chemical processes of gene expression to synthesize cellular RNAs and proteins in specific patterns that determine cellular function. Thus our ability to control cellular behavior is directly connected to our ability to control and engineer gene expression, making this a central goal of bioengineering and synthetic biology.

Dr. Julius Lucks is Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University. After graduating with a BS in Chemistry, he spent a summer working with Robert Parr before obtaining an M. Phil. in Theoretical Chemistry at Cambridge University as a Churchill Scholar. As a Hertz Fellow at Harvard University, he researched problems in theoretical biophysics including RNA folding and translocation, viral capsid structure and viral genome organization. As a Miller Fellow at UC Berkeley in the laboratory of Adam P. Arkin, he engineered versatile RNA-sensing transcriptional regulators that can be easily reconfigured to independently regulate multiple genes, logically control gene expression, and propagate signals as RNA molecules in gene networks. He also lead the team that developed SHAPE-Seq, an experimental technique that utilizes next generation sequencing for probing RNA secondary and tertiary structures of hundreds of RNAs in a single experiment. Professor Lucks’ research combines both experiment and theory to ask fundamental questions about the design principles that govern how RNAs fold and function in living organisms, and how these principles can be used to engineer biomolecular systems, and open doors to new medical therapeutics.

Date & Time: Thursday, March 5th, 9:00 am -10:00 am
Location: Abbott Auditorium, Panco Pavillion

*Refreshments will be available at 8:45 am)