Description:

Weekly seminars with guest speakers.

Thursdays 9:00AM - 10:00AM Tech M345

Matt Paszek
Cornell
Host: Julius Lucks

Title: Synthetic biology meets materials science: rationally designed biopolymers for cellular engineering and biomedicine

Abstract: Generation of membrane curvature is compulsory for some of the most sophisticated forms of intercellular communication in tissues. Cells bend their membranes into spherical vesicles and thin, finger-like projections to package and deliver complex information packets to other cells.  I will discuss our progress in leveraging tools and formalisms from synthetic biology to achieve programmable control over plasma membrane shapes and, ultimately, desired modes of intercellular communication. Namely, we’ve discovered that cells exploit basic principles of polymer physics to bend the plasma membrane into the highly curved forms required for vesicles and thin membrane tubules.  Like a compressed gas hovering over the membrane, flexible biopolymers anchored on the cell surface generate a pressure that makes the formation of curved membrane features easier.  I will discuss how our group designs new types of biopolymers for cell-surface engineering and genetically directs their assembly to harness control over cellular communication.  In parallel with our work in basic sciences, we also prioritize the evolution of our biopolymer technology into useful products for biomanufacturing and biomedicine.  I will discuss applications of our encoded biopolymer technology, ranging from anti-stick coatings on mammalian cells for reduced aggregation in bioreactors to efficient design and manufacturing of biolubricants for joint disease, dry eye syndrome, and other biomedical challenges.

Bio: Dr. Matthew J Paszek is an Assistant Professor in the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University.  His research interests are in glycoscience, synthetic biology, and materials science with a particular interest in the functioning of glycans in multicellular life and disease biology.  Towards this end, his lab develops optical technologies and experimental approaches that enable new lines of inquiry in glycoscience.  Prior to Cornell, Dr. Paszek investigated the mechanobiology of cancer under the mentorship of Drs. Daniel Hammer and Valerie Weaver at the University of Pennsylvania, where he obtained his Ph.D.  Dr. Paszek expanded on his graduate studies as a Postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco, during which time he developed new methods for nanoscale cellular imaging and identified a fundamental role for the glycocalyx in the physical organization and activation of cell-surface receptors in cancer.

Description:

Weekly seminars with guest speakers.

Thursdays 9:00AM - 10:00AM Tech M345

Student Presentations
Melissa Barona - Snurr
DoSoon Kim - Jewett

Description:

Weekly seminars with guest speakers.

Thursdays 9:00AM - 10:00AM Tech M345

Student Presentations
Ellesse Bess - Miller
Miki Yu - Ottino/Lueptow