BATS

Date/Time:

Nov 18, 2022 - 12:00 PM

Location:

Hosts:

Bevin Engelward

Speaker:

Title:

Applying Proximity Labeling to Study the Pathogen-containing Phagosome

Abstract:

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of tuberculosis, is a leading cause of death and disease worldwide. Mtb survives and replicates inside of the macrophage phagosome, as Mtb has evolved to arrest phagosomal maturation and impair typical macrophage killing mechanisms. To better understand how Mtb manipulates the phagosome, we need a technique which enables unbiased labeling and purification of pathogen-interacting phagosomal components. Here, we apply proximity labeling to the pathogen-containing phagosome, enabling comparative studies of pathogen manipulation of the phagosome.

Speaker:

Title:

Engineering Precise, Robust Gene Expression During Cell-fate Transitions

Abstract:

Transcription factor (TF)-guided cell-fate specification enables production of rare, inaccessible cell types for applications such as disease modeling. However, most methods rely on simple TF overexpression, which often leads to low production efficiency and inhibits investigation of questions related to TF level. To more precisely and robustly regulate gene expression, here I leverage synthetic biology to engineer compact gene circuits. I demonstrate circuit functionality toward application for control of TF levels during cell-fate transitions.