BATS

Date/Time:

Mar 23, 2018 - 12:00 PM

Location:

Hosts:

Bevin Engelward

Speaker:

Title:

Using Yeast to Clean Contaminated Waters

Abstract:

My talk will highlight the limitations in current remediation methods and argue for the use of biologically engineered strategies for more cost-effective and efficient processes to handle heavy metal waste. Specifically, my work exploits natural pathways in yeast to preferentially uptake and recycle heavy metal toxins. These strategies are 1) cell surface display of metal-binding and nucleating peptides, 2) engineered metal transporters for metal uptake, and 3) engineered metabolic pathways that preferentially react with, or reduce, heavy metals.

Speaker:

Title:

Engineering Physiologically Relevant In Vitro Liver Models

Abstract:

In vitro liver models are increasingly important for drug metabolism studies and disease modeling. A current challenge in liver tissue engineering is developing stable and non-inflammatory long-term culture. Traditional tissue culture polystyrene surfaces induce a mild inflammatory phenotype, which is indicative of a disease state. To eliminate this effect, we developed an approach based on microfabrication of functionalized hydrogels. We also develop a strategy to improve tissue formation under flow through hepatocyte aggregation.