BE Seminar: Programmable molecular sensors and switches: applications in metabolic engineering, intelligent therapeutics, and biosensors

Prof. Christina Smolke, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, Caltech

Cells employ a variety of different sensor biomolecules to dynamically                                                                      
evaluate their environments and trigger appropriate metabolic responses.                                                                    
The ability to program cells with engineered molecules that can sense                                                                      
structural and chemical events is a critical technology for  any of the                                                                    
challenges that face us in biotechnology and medical research. Recent                                                                      
progress in the design of tailor-made molecular switches and sensors is                                                                    
rapidly advancing our ability to engineer 'smart' systems that will                                                                        
perform information processing or signal integration within cells or                                                                        
complex biological samples. I will discuss our work in the design a  ew                                                                    
class of nucleic acid-based molecular sensors that transform different                                                                      
types of informational input into biological function and their                                                                            
pplication in regulating complex cellular behavior. In particular, the                                                                      
application of these devices to metabolic engineering strategies for                                                                        
microbial alkaloid synthesis, targeted molecular therapies, and diagnostic                                                                  
devices will be addressed.