News & EventsDepartment Events
Events
-
Mar28
EVENT DETAILS
The Chemical and Biological Engineering Department is pleased to present student seminars by Grant Landwehr and Jordy Ramos Yataco as part of our ChBE Seminar Series.
Grant Landwehr will present a seminar titled “Accelerating biocatalyst design for applications in sustainability.”
ABSTRACT: The accelerating climate crisis poses one of the most urgent economic and social challenges to humankind, driven by the unabated release and accumulation of CO2 in our atmosphere. Industrial biotechnology is one of the most attractive approaches to meet this growing demand, however, many important biotransformations require efficient enzymes that have yet to be discovered or engineered. High-throughput methods to not only study enzymes but evaluate their engineering potential as industrial tools are crucial. During my PhD, I addressed this challenge by developing a cell-free DNA assembly and protein synthesis platform that allows us to rapidly design and screen 1,000’s of sequence-defined enzyme mutants in days. In this talk, I will discuss two examples of utilizing this workflow for applications in sustainable biomanufacturing. I will first show how we designed and built a synthetic carbon fixation pathway to upgrade CO2 into commodity chemicals. A fundamental aspect of our design philosophy was to build a completely synthetic pathway; that is, all five core reactions of the pathway are not known to occur enzymatically in nature. Considering such synthetic designs expands the diversity of metabolic solutions for carbon assimilation. In the second part of my talk, I will discuss efforts towards engineering amide synthetases for the synthesis of small molecule pharmaceuticals. Coupling machine learning with the rich sequence-fitness landscapes we generate enabled us to simultaneously engineer enzymes for multiple reactions simultaneously. Ultimately, this work accelerates the maturation of biocatalysts and serves as a blueprint for efficient, economical, and environmentally benign processes for biomanufacturing.
Jordy Ramos Yataco will present a seminar titled " Structure and Performance Control of Catalysts under Methane Dehydroaromatization Conditions.”
ABSTRACT: Natural gas is the feedstock for the production of a variety of other chemical species essential to modern society. Methane is the primary component of natural gas, but it is not transformed directly to higher-value chemicals in any large-scale industrial process. One proposed route is methane dehydroaromatization (MDA) in which methane is transformed to aromatics and hydrogen. The molybdenum-containing zeolite Mo/H-ZSM-5 is the benchmark catalyst for this reaction, and it shows high aromatic selectivity and near equilibrium conversion (~12% yield at 700 ⁰C); however, this performance declines over time due to formation of carbonaceous species (coke) that block pores and require harsh conditions for their removal.
In this talk, supported MoOx (pre)catalysts were synthesized and studied under MDA conditions. Different structures were compared to develop structure-activity relationships. In the first approach, the external crystallite surfaces of the H-ZSM5 support were passivated via atomic layer deposition (ALD). This was to test the hypotheses that acid sites on the external surface were responsible for coke formation under MDA conditions. While SiO2 deposition could improve selectivity during the first use of the catalyst, the redistribution of MoOx during catalysis and regeneration, as determined by several characterization techniques, was the most important determinant of catalytic performance. In the second part of this talk, several variables related to the synthesis and use of Mo/H-ZSM-5 were contrasted for their role in determining catalytic performance. Variables such as Mo loading, Mo loading method, Si/Al ratio of H-ZSM-5 and oxidative regeneration were compared via newly-synthesized materials and via re-interpretation of three decades of literature data. These materials showed differences in performance, but when comparing them based on CH4 conversion vs. product selectivity, all the curves overlapped. This analysis demonstrated that fundamentally, all of these materials possessed the same active site, just in different numbers, and with different rates of deactivation. Using these learnings, the talk closes with a brief discussion of the use of non-zeolitic supports with BrØnsted acid sites generated by mixed oxides. These materials promise to have better stability under regeneration while providing new anchoring sites for MoOx pre-catalysts.
Bagels and coffee will be provided at 9:30am, and the seminar will start at 9:40am. Please plan to arrive on time to grab a bagel and mingle!
*Please note that there will be no Zoom option for seminars this year.
TIME Thursday, March 28, 2024 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION LR4, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Jennifer Young jennifer.young@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
-
Apr1
EVENT DETAILS
Biotech Leadership in a Dynamic Oncology Environment
In 2023, the global pharmaceutical prescription drug market was $1.1 trillion. Oncology accounted for roughly 25% of that market and makes up roughly half of the clinical research pipeline. Despite advancements in oncology drug approvals, chemotherapy remains standard of care among many tumors with high incidence and unmet medical need. While chemotherapy may kill cancer cells, it also results in indiscriminate damage to healthy tissues. Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), or “smart chemo”, have the potential to deliver potent cytotoxic agents to tumor cells while avoiding collateral damage to normal cells. The ADC space is powered by technological innovation in order to strike the right balance between efficacy and toxicity. ADC Therapeutics is a pioneer in the space, as the only public biotech company with an approved ADC, a clinical pipeline, and a research platform that enables advancement of next-generation ADCs. As companies seek to have impact in this evolving landscape, leadership and culture play a key role in their ultimate success. Hear the perspective of an experienced pharmaceutical and biotech leader on navigating this dynamic oncology environment.
Ameet Mallik is CEO of ADC Therapeutics, a public commercial-stage oncology biotech company, which is a leader and pioneer in the field of antibody-drug conjugates. Before joining ADC Therapeutics in 2022, he served as CEO of Rafael Holdings, a novel cancer and immune metabolism therapeutics company. Mr. Mallik has over 25 years of industry experience and spent more than 16 years at Novartis where he last served as Executive Vice President and Head, U.S. Oncology. Before that, Mr. Mallik served as Global Head, Marketing, Value and Access, and Head, Latin America and Canada for Novartis Oncology. Mr. Mallik began his career at Novartis as Head of Strategic Planning and held a number of commercial and leadership roles across Novartis and Sandoz during his tenure there. At Sandoz, Mr. Mallik was Global Head of Biopharmaceuticals & Oncology Injectables. Before working in pharma, Mr. Mallik was an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company. He currently serves on the boards of directors of ADC Therapeutics, Atara Biotherapeutics, and NJ-based non-profit organization, NJ LEEP. Mr. Mallik holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania as well as an MS in Biotechnology and a BS in Chemical Engineering, both from Northwestern University.
TIME Monday, April 1, 2024 at 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
LOCATION Hive 2350, Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center map it
CONTACT Will Chaussee william.chaussee@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
-
Apr4
EVENT DETAILS
The Chemical and Biological Engineering Department is pleased to present a seminar by Kerry Kelly from The University of Utah as part of our ChBE Seminar Series.
Dr. Kelly will present a seminar titled "Addressing air quality challenges through IoT solutions, policy, and education."
ABSTRACT: Northern Utah, where I live and work, periodically experiences the worst air quality in the nation — and sometimes the world. Climate change and growing population are exacerbating our region’s degraded air quality, especically particulate air pollution associated with wildfires, temperature inversions, and airborne dust, which are linked to numerous adverse health effects. As just one example the Great Salt Lake, a significant source of particle pollution (dust), recently reached historically low levels, revealing more than 750 mi2 of exposed lake bed, portions of which contain elevated levels of toxic metals, such as lead and arsenic. In recent years, government officials and scientists learning that particle pollution levels are not distributed uniformly. This talk will discuss using cost-effective (IoT) solutions to understand and address air quality challenges including: protecting youth athletes from air quality hazards, improving indoor air quality during pollution episodes, and encouraging smartidling choices in areas where vehicles congregate. It will also discuss overcoming data quality challenges associated with the use of cost-effective sensors, translating our work into policy, and linking to educational activities.
Dr. Kelly is a professional engineer and an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Utah. She has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University of Utah, a MS in Environmental Engineering from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and a PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Utah. Dr. Kelly is committed to the translation of science to data-driven policy decisions. She served 8 years on Utah’s Air Quality Board and currently serves on the state’s air quality policy board together with state legislators. She has received a NSF CAREER award, the UCAIR air quality person of the year from Utah’s governor for her service to the state, and The Story Exhange’s Women in Science Innovation Prize. Her research focuses on understanding and addressing air-quality challenges, including using cost-effective, air-quality sensing to empower communities, optimizing energy efficiency and indoor air quality, and understanding viable virus transmission in hospital settings.
Bagels and coffee will be provided at 9:30am, and the seminar will start at 9:40am. Please plan to arrive on time to grab a bagel and mingle!
*Please note that there will be no Zoom option for seminars this year.
TIME Thursday, April 4, 2024 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION LR4, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Olivia Wise olivia.wise@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
-
Apr11
EVENT DETAILS
The Chemical and Biological Engineering Department is pleased to present a seminar by Nathan Crook from North Carolina State University as part of our ChBE Seminar Series.
Dr. Nathan Crook will present a seminar titled "Combinatorial and evolutionary engineering of probiotic yeast for in situ biomanufacturing.”
ABSTRACT: The large intestine is the site of many human diseases yet is difficult to access with orally- or intravenously delivered drugs. At the same time, the gut provides a habitat for a numerous and diverse population of microbes (viral, prokaryotic, and eukaryotic) that perform important, health-relevant chemistries using host- and diet-derived carbohydrates as a feedstock. Therefore, there has been a rising interest in genetically engineering these gut microbes to produce therapeutic molecules in the gut, ultimately improving drug delivery and reducing drug costs. Saccharomyces boulardii (Sb) is a widely used yeast probiotic, demonstrating effectiveness against various gastrointestinal disorders. As a yeast, Sb exhibits high rates of protein secretion, is tolerant to low pH, can be freeze-dried, and low (if any) rates of horizontal gene transfer. Sb is therefore a promising chassis for development of personalized engineered probiotic medicines. In this talk, I will discuss our lab’s recent progress in tuning four key parameters of Sb’s efficacy as a drug delivery vehicle. First, I will present the development of a constitutive Sb promoter library, and how we applied this library to synthesize β-carotene in the mouse gut. Then, I will introduce how sensing of extracellular metabolites may be achieved through repair of Sb’s defective mating pathway and the expression of human adenosine and melatonin G protein-coupled receptors. I will next detail our efforts to enhance Sb’s in vivo residence time through both rational and screening-based approaches. Finally, I will discuss some new work from our lab focusing on the engineering and optimization of protein secretion titers in Sb, culminating in a quadruple knockout strain with a 10-fold increase to recombinant peptide production. Taken together, this work establishes Sb as a genetically tractable commensal fungus and demonstrates the tunable delivery of small-molecule and protein therapeutics during colonization.
Dr. Crook received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 2009, and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014, studying under Dr. Hal Alper. He pursued postdoctoral studies in Pathology and Immunology at Washington University in Saint Louis School Medicine from 2014-2017 in the lab of Dr. Gautam Dantas. Dr. Crook joined the department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NCSU in January 2018, and his lab focuses on how to engineer microbial communities. He received an NSF CAREER award and NIH New Innovator Award in 2023, and mentors 10 amazing graduate students and 3 amazing postdocs.
Bagels and coffee will be provided at 9:30am, and the seminar will start at 9:40am. Please plan to arrive on time to grab a bagel and mingle!
*Please note that there will be no Zoom option for seminars this year.
TIME Thursday, April 11, 2024 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION LR4, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Olivia Wise olivia.wise@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
-
Apr18
EVENT DETAILS
The Chemical and Biological Engineering Department is pleased to present a seminar by Prashant V. Kamat from the University of Notre Dame as part of our ChBE Seminar Series.
Dr. Kamat will be presenting a seminar titled "Ion Migration in Metal Halide Perovskites: Implications for Solar Cell Stability."
ABSTRACT:
The ability to tune the bandgap of metal halide perovskites through compositional alloying of the halide ion is of interest in designing tandem solar cells and light emitting displays. However, photoinduced migration of halide ions can significantly affect the device performance. One such property is photoinduced phase segregation in mixed halide perovskites (MHP), which forms bromide rich and iodide-rich domains. These domains act as charge carrier traps and lower the efficiency of perovskite-based devices. The thermodynamic and redox properties of halide perovskites provide a strong driving force for hole trapping and oxidation of iodide species. Thus, the mobility of halides and their susceptibility to hole-induced oxidation play a crucial role in determining the long-term stability of metal halide perovskite solar cells.
When Ruddlesden-Popper 2D mixed-halide perovskite films with spacer cations such as butylammonium are introduced into three-dimensional (3D) perovskite films, they can stabilize them against moisture-induced degradation at room temperature. While such passivation of 3D perovskites using 2D perovskites has been reported widely, the instability of the 2D/3D interface during long term solar cell operation can be problematic. The cation migration under light and heat can significantly alter the 2D/3D interface, thus affecting the solar cell performance. Thus, suppression of halide ion migration as well as cation migration remains a key factor in achieving long term stability and improving efficiency of perovskite solar cells and light emitting devices.
Prashant V. Kamat is a Rev. John A. Zahm, C.S.C., Professor of Science in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Radiation Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame. He is also a Concurrent Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Professor Kamat has for more than four decades worked to build bridges between physical chemistry and material science to develop advanced nanomaterials that promise cleaner and more efficient light energy conversion. He has published more than 500 scientific papers that have been well recognized by the scientific community. Thomson-Reuters has featured him as one of the most cited researchers each year since 2014 (2014 -2023). He received Porter Medal in Photochemistry (2022) ACS National Storch Award (2024). He is a Fellow of ACS, MRS, ECS and AAAS. He is also a Pravasi Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy. He is currently serving as the Editor-in-Chief of ACS Energy Letters. (URL:Kamatlab.com)
Suggested Readings:
DuBose, J. T.; Kamat, P. V. Hole Trapping in Halide Perovskites Induces Phase Segregation, Accounts of Materials Research 2022, 3, 761-771.
DuBose, J. T.; Kamat, P. V. Energy Versus Electron Transfer: Managing Excited-State Interactions in Perovskite Nanocrystal–Molecular Hybrids, Chemical Reviews 2022, 122, 12475–12494.
Chakkamalayath, J.; Hiott, N.; Kamat, P. V. How Stable Is the 2D/3D Interface of Metal Halide Perovskite under Light and Heat?, ACS Energy Letters 2023, 8, 169-171.
Szabó, G.; Kamat, P. V., How Cation Migration across a 2D/3D Interface Dictates Perovskite Solar Cell Efficiency ACS Energy Letters 2024 9 (1), 193-200
Bagels and coffee will be provided at 9:30am, and the seminar will start at 9:40am. Please plan to arrive on time to grab a bagel and mingle!
*Please note that there will be no Zoom option for seminars this year.
TIME Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION LR4, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Olivia Wise olivia.wise@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
-
Apr25
EVENT DETAILS
The Chemical and Biological Engineering Department is pleased to present a seminar by Allison Godwin from Cornell University as part of our ChBE Seminar Series.
More details to come.
Bagels and coffee will be provided at 9:30am, and the seminar will start at 9:40am. Please plan to arrive on time to grab a bagel and mingle!
*Please note that there will be no Zoom option for seminars this year.
TIME Thursday, April 25, 2024 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION LR4, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Olivia Wise olivia.wise@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
-
May2
EVENT DETAILS
The Chemical and Biological Engineering Department is pleased to present a seminar by Peter Beltramo from the University of Massachusetts as part of our ChBE Seminar Series.
Dr. Peter Beltramo will present a seminar titled "Interfacial colloidal interactions, dynamics, and assembly: from biomembranes to ordered 2D materials.”
ABSTRACT: Soft matter interfaces are ubiquitous across diverse technologies ranging from pharmaceuticals to chemical formulations. The presence of surfactant molecules or colloidal particles at fluid interfaces gives the interface distinct properties in response to flow, deformation, and external fields that must be measured, understood, and manipulated for desired functionalities. This talk will focus on colloidal interactions in two such systems: crowded artificial biological membranes and anisotropic particles at air-water interfaces. In the first part of the talk, we discuss the effects of increasing concentration of model membrane inclusions in an artificial cell membrane on inclusion diffusivity and the apparent viscosity of the membrane. In the second part of the talk, we highlight our recent discovery that particle surface porosity severely attenuates the capillary attraction between colloidal ellipsoids at fluid interfaces, enabling the development of ordered anisotropic 2D monolayers. By monitoring the dynamics of two particles approaching one another, we find that porous particles exhibit a strikingly shorter-range capillary interaction potential. Interferometry measurements of the fluid deformation surrounding a single particle quantitatively confirm the decrease in capillary interaction energy and point to roughness-induced changes to interfacial pinning as the mechanism for reduced attraction. Lastly, we show how this reduction in interparticle capillary attraction and alteration in interfacial pinning manifests in the overall 2D interfacial assembly of such particles, informing an approach for the development of anisotropically ordered 2D materials.
Peter Beltramo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at UMass Amherst. He earned a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2009 and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware in 2014, where he studied the electrokinetics and self-assembly of colloidal suspensions. Before starting at UMass Amherst in 2018, he completed a postdoc in Soft Materials at ETH Zurich. At UMass, his lab studies interfacial soft matter in contexts ranging from membrane biophysics and biomimetic materials to particle stabilized emulsions and ordered 2D materials. His recent recognitions include the NSF CAREER Award, ACS-PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award, and a Lilly Teaching Fellowship at UMass Amherst.
Bagels and coffee will be provided at 9:30am, and the seminar will start at 9:40am. Please plan to arrive on time to grab a bagel and mingle!
*Please note that there will be no Zoom option for seminars this year.
TIME Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION LR4, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Olivia Wise olivia.wise@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
-
May9
EVENT DETAILS
The Chemical and Biological Engineering Department is pleased to present a seminar by Phillip Christopher from University of California, Santa Barbara as part of our ChBE Seminar Series.
More details to come.
Bagels and coffee will be provided at 9:30am, and the seminar will start at 9:40am. Please plan to arrive on time to grab a bagel and mingle!
*Please note that there will be no Zoom option for seminars this year.
TIME Thursday, May 9, 2024 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION LR4, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Olivia Wise olivia.wise@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
-
May16
EVENT DETAILS
The Chemical and Biological Engineering Department is pleased to present the 35th Annual Hugh M. Hulburt Lecture with Chau-Chyun Chen from Texas Tech University as part of our Spring 2024 ChBE Seminar Series.
More lecture details to come.
About Hugh M. Hulburt
A talented administrator and teacher, Hugh M. Hulburt (1917–1987) dedicated his professional career to practicing chemistry and promoting the chemical engineering profession. After receiving his PhD in 1942, he worked in various industry positions, becoming director of research and development at the Chemical Construction Corporation and later director of chemical engineering and of physical research at American Cyanamid Company.After joining Northwestern in 1964, Hulburt served as chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering from 1965 to 1971, associate dean of the Graduate School from 1975 to 1980, and associate dean of the Technological Institute from 1980 to 1983. He chaired the committee to establish the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and fostered closer ties between industry and the University and between science and engineering.
Hulburt was editor of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Process Design and Development from its inception in 1962 until 1986, during which time it became a highly respected journal. He also served on the editorial board of the Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data and on the National Science Foundation’s Advisory Panel for Engineering Chemistry and Energetics. He was a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and was its Institute Lecturer in 1962.The Hugh M. Hulburt Memorial Lecture brings to campus leaders in chemical engineering research and management to lecture and interact with students and faculty, and it fosters collaboration between industry & academia in the education of future chemical engineers.
A department luncheon will follow the lecture at 12:00pm on the Tech East Patio/courtyard.
*Please note that there will be no Zoom option for seminars this year.
TIME Thursday, May 16, 2024 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION LR4 (M113), Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Jennifer Young jennifer.young@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
-
May23
EVENT DETAILS
The Chemical and Biological Engineering Department is pleased to present the annual ARDEI Lecture with speaker Christine Reyna from DePaul University.
More details to come.
Bagels and coffee will be provided at 9:30am, and the seminar will start at 9:40am. Please plan to arrive on time to grab a bagel and mingle!
*Please note that there will be no Zoom option for seminars this year.
TIME Thursday, May 23, 2024 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION LR4, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Olivia Wise olivia.wise@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)