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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Summary Sentence: BME Speaker Seminar with Leo Chou, Ph.D.*
Full Summary: No summary paragraph submitted.
Leo Chou, Ph.D.**** FACULTY CANDIDATE ***
NSERC Banting Postdoctoral Fellow
Wyss Institute at Harvard University
ABSTRACT
Biomolecules in living systems operate as dynamic complexes to transmit energy, force, and motion within and between cells. These molecular machines reflect the sophisticated functions that can emerge from the hierarchical organization of simple building blocks, and highlight the importance of both structure and dynamics in designing materials for in vivo applications.
In this talk I will discuss how DNA-directed assembly is enabling the design of nanoscale systems with tunable dynamic behaviours and highlight their biological applications. In the first example, DNA is used to organize functional nanoparticle building blocks into superstructures with prescribed physicochemical properties. By controlling design parameters such as nanoparticle shape, surface chemistry, and assembly architecture, DNA-nanoparticle superstructures can exhibit rich, emergent properties such as (1) kinetically programmable, multistage cargo release, and (2) switchable cell internalization. In the second part of the talk, I will describe on-going efforts to construct a virus-inspired, RNA-extruding nanofactory. The nanofactory spatially coordinates the activities of a RNA polymerase, its DNA template, and associated ribonucleases within a 150 x 60 nm “DNA origami” nanocapsule. By spatially confining these enzymes, the nanofactory is capable of producing RNA more efficiently and with more engineering control than its molecular counterparts, and may one day find applications as artificial organelles for on-site therapeutic manufacturing directly within living cells.
Host: Shuming Nie, Ph.D.
Tuesday, Feb. 21
10:30 a.m.
HSRB Room E160,
Emory University
Videoconference:
Georgia Tech, McIntire Rm 3115 and TEP 104
