BATS

Date/Time:

Nov 2, 2018 - 12:00 PM

Location:

Hosts:

Bevin Engelward

Speaker:

Title:

Capturing Carbon: Development of Biological Materials for Capture and Conversion of Carbon Dioxide

Abstract:

Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels continue to rise at a rate of 2 ppm (~15 trillion kg) per year. Virus-based materials offer a tunable, nanoscale platform for the investigation of critical material properties for the adsorption and controlled release of dilute carbon dioxide, and for its electrocatalytic conversion to value-added hydrocarbons. Preliminary studies show the ability to impact capture and conversion performance using the parameter space available with the M13 bacteriophage materials-synthesis platform.

Speaker:

Title:

Design of siRNA/DNA Nanoparticles for Multiplexed, Conditional Gene Silencing

Abstract:

Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) have remarkable therapeutic potential for targeted gene silencing due to their high sequence specificity and catalytic activity. However, current siRNA formulations are constrained due to factors such as limited targeting efficiency and off-target toxicity. Here we present a general design for structured wireframe DNA nanoparticles that contain built-in conditional release mechanisms and are capable of carrying many distinct siRNAs at pre-defined ratios for multiplexed, minimally toxic gene knockdown.