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Events
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Apr22
EVENT DETAILS
lessThe Biotechnology Training Program is pleased to present the following seminar by Milos Simic:
Programming tissue-sensing T cells to deliver therapies to the brain
Central nervous system (CNS) disorders are a leading cause of global disease burden and high economic cost, estimated at $800 billion per year in the US. Current systemic treatments have poor CNS penetration at therapeutic doses and numerous side effects. An ideal treatment should localize its action to the affected area. Immune cells could be engineered to deliver therapeutic payloads to specific tissues, such as the CNS. To engineer immune cells that target the CNS, we identified extracellular CNS-specific antigens, including unique components of the CNS extracellular matrix and neural/glial cell surface molecules. We engineered synNotch receptors to detect these antigens and used them to program T cells that induce the expression of diverse payloads. CNS-targeted T cells inducing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) expression efficiently cleared primary and secondary brain tumor xenografts, without killing cross-reactive cells outside the brain. Conversely, CNS-targeted cells delivering immuno-suppressive payloads, such as the cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10), ameliorated symptoms of a mouse model of neuroinflammatory disease. Thus, CNS-sensing cells provide a flexible new platform to address diverse CNS disorders in a precise and anatomically targeted manner.
Milos Simic is a synthetic immunologist developing cell-based delivery platforms for brain diseases. His research focuses on combining cell engineering and synthetic biology to understand and treat brain diseases. Simic and his colleagues pioneered the concept of a programmable “tissue GPS” for cells, allowing a cell to precisely know where it is in the body to locally execute a predefined program. This concept is currently being applied for the treatment of brain cancers, with a potential clinical trial underway, as well as the treatment of neuroinflammation. He is eager to expand those concepts to treat other diseases of the brain, including neurodegeneration.
TIME Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
LOCATION LR5, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Will Chaussee william.chaussee@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
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Apr23
EVENT DETAILS
lessThe Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering is pleased to present a seminar by Whitney Loo, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Wisconsin.
Dr. Loo will be presenting a seminar titled "Investigating the Phase Behavior of Charged-Neutral Polymer Blends Using X-ray and Neutron Scattering."
The ongoing development of rechargeable batteries with increased energy density is critical to continue the growth in the electrification of mobile technologies. To achieve these goals, new electrolytes must be developed that possess fast ion transport characterized by high ionic conductivity and high cation transference number (the fraction of ions that carry current), a combination of properties typically not found in a single material. Therefore, we propose to engineer polymer blend electrolytes as suitable electrolyte replacements. In this presentation, we will study charged-neutral polymer blends, which contain an ion-containing polymer and an ion-conducting polymer, and determine how blend composition and counter ion identity affects resulting phase behavior. Through a combined approach leveraging X-ray and neutron scattering, we are able to resolve the nanostructure across a wide range of length-scales ranging from monomer sub-units to inter-chain interactions. By quantitatively fitting the scattering profiles, we can extract thermodynamics parameters and relevant length-scales and show how local charge correlations affect nanoscopic structure. We will conclude by suggesting how molecular engineering of these blends can enable precise tuning of the strength of charge correlations and the concentration of charged species to further probe blend thermodynamics.
Whitney Loo joined the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering as an Assistant Professor in January 2023. Whitney obtained her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from MIT and her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley with Nitash Balsara studying block copolymer electrolytes for Lithium metal batteries. She completed her postdoctoral training jointly at the University of Chicago with Paul Nealey and the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab with Ricardo Ruiz. Her postdoctoral research involves the design of novel polymers and nanofabrication techniques for block copolymer nanolithography. Her independent research group at UW-Madison focuses on designing polymers for a more sustainable future and her group conducts polymer physics research in energy storage, advanced manufacturing and plastics recycling. To recognize her research achievements, she was recently awarded the DOE Early Career Research Award and the Vilas Early Career Investigator Award.
TIME Thursday, April 23, 2026 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION Pancoe Auditorium, Pancoe-NSUHS Life Sciences Pavilion map it
CONTACT Olivia Wise olivia.wise@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
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Apr29
EVENT DETAILS
lessThe Biotechnology Training Program is pleased to present the following seminar by Joshua Katz:
At the Interface of Biology and Materials Science: Polymers and Surfactants for Improved Biologic Drug Manufacture, Purification, and Formulation
Biopharmaceutical manufacturing presents a unique set of interfacial challenges that span the entire drug production lifecycle—from upstream cell culture to downstream purification and final formulation. In this lecture, we will explore how interfacial phenomena fundamentally shape product quality, stability, and process performance, and how emerging excipient and process-aid technologies can address these limits. Recent advances in surfactant science demonstrate how molecular design can dramatically accelerate interfacial adsorption, outcompete proteins at air, oil, and polymer interfaces, and mitigate aggregation during agitation. Parallel studies show that novel surfactant chemistries offer advantages not only in drug product stabilization, but also in critical downstream operations. Upstream during cell culture, new insights into shear protection reveal that polymer–surfactant combinations can outperform legacy excipients, enhancing viable cell density, supporting process intensification efforts, and offering alternative mechanisms for mitigating hydrodynamic and interfacial stress. Together, these case studies will illustrate how a deeper understanding of interfacial science enables more robust biologic manufacturing—from stabilizing proteins under mechanical stress to improving the reliability of purification steps and increasing upstream productivity. The talk will highlight business rationales, mechanistic principles, experimental approaches, and practical implications for the scientists and engineers developing the next generation of biopharmaceuticals.
Joshua S. Katz is R&D Director for Biologics R&D with Roquette Health & Pharma Solutions with over twenty years of experience developing polymeric materials for biomedical applications. He received his S.B. in Chemistry with a minor in Biomedical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At MIT, he worked under the guidance of Prof. Darrell Irvine. From MIT he moved to the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, receiving his PhD under the guidance of Professors Jason Burdick and Daniel Hammer. After completing his PhD, he joined the Formulation Science group at Dow Chemical, where he worked on projects focused on encapsulation and controlled delivery for a variety of industries including pharmaceuticals, coatings, agriculture, and industrial composites, with focus in more recent years more exclusively on the biopharma industry. Moving through a number of roles and a series of mergers, sales, and acquisitions (Dow to DuPont to IFF to Roquette) has led to his present position. His research today focuses on fundamentals and applications of biopharmaceutical production and formulation. Josh has won several awards recognizing his research accomplishments including a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation (2006), Best Poster in Competition from the MIT Biomedical Engineering Society (2006), a named finalist for the DSM Polymer Technology Award 2011 presented in partnership with the POLY division of the American Chemical Society, and the AAPS Best Abstract Award in 2018. He holds 4 US patents, is an author of 15 patent applications, and has 36 peer-reviewed publications.
TIME Wednesday, April 29, 2026 at 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
LOCATION LR5, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Will Chaussee william.chaussee@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
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Apr30
EVENT DETAILS
lessThe Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering is pleased to present a seminar by Matthew Crane, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Department of Materials Science at the Colorado School of Mines.
Dr. Crane will present a seminar titled "Harvesting infrared photons with semiconductor plasmonic nanocrystals."
Doped semiconductor nanomaterials are a promising platform to manipulate the energy and information contained in light, with applications ranging from photocatalysis to quantum information. In these materials, the control over light absorption, energy relaxation, and dimensionality offer a unique platform at the intersection of light, matter, charge, and spin to understand how light modifies materials and in turn, how materials may modify light. We focus on understanding the first steps in light absorption, charge separation, and spin dephasing in these semiconductor nanocrystals in active environments to realize emerging energy and computing technologies. In this seminar, I will present recent work from my lab on the synthesis and photophysics of semiconductor plasmonic nanocrystals, focusing on how we may use these to overcome challenges in infrared energy harvesting. I will also describe a new approach to pattern colloidal nanomaterials.
Dr. Matthew Crane is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Department of Materials Science at the Colorado School of Mines. He also holds a Joint Appointment at the National Lab of the Rockies. Matthew received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington, where he was a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Research Fellow. He then trained as a Washington Research Foundation and Cottrell Postdoctoral Fellow in the Chemistry Department at the University of Washington, where he co-founded a startup company, BlueDot Photonics. At Colorado School of Mines and NLR, the Crane group uses ultrafast spectroscopies to understand how nanomaterials behave in active environments to ensure that next-generation computing is low-energy and powered by sustainable resources. Matthew was named 35 under 35 in materials by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
TIME Thursday, April 30, 2026 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION Pancoe Auditorium, Pancoe-NSUHS Life Sciences Pavilion map it
CONTACT Olivia Wise olivia.wise@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
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May6
EVENT DETAILS
lessThe Biotechnology Training Program is pleased to present the following seminar by Kathryn Kosuda:
Information forthcoming
TIME Wednesday, May 6, 2026 at 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
LOCATION LR5, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Will Chaussee william.chaussee@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
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May7
EVENT DETAILS
lessMore details to come.
TIME Thursday, May 7, 2026 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION Pancoe Auditorium, Pancoe-NSUHS Life Sciences Pavilion map it
CONTACT Olivia Wise olivia.wise@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
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May14
EVENT DETAILS
lessThe Chemical and Biological Engineering Department is pleased to present the 36th Annual Hugh M. Hulburt Memorial Lecture by Concetta La Marca, Senior Principal Consultant at Chemours.
Concetta La Marca will present a seminar titled "Industrial Reaction Engineering: Bridging Research, Practical Fundamentals, and Product Innovation."
Modern chemical manufacturing relies on the practical application of core engineering principles to solve technical and business challenges. In this lecture, I will share highlights from my career at DuPont and Chemours, emphasizing how reaction kinetics and reactor design are implemented in industrial settings. Using refrigerant chemistry as a case study, I will demonstrate how fundamental principles guide process and product development and support compliance with evolving regulations. Throughout my journey, the guidance of experienced mentors shaped my approach to complex problems, technical growth, and professional development. I will also discuss the importance of passing these lessons on—mentoring new engineers, fostering collaboration across disciplines, and engaging with the broader scientific community. The talk offers a firsthand perspective on the role of chemical engineers in translating research into industrial practice, advancing innovative products, and building a culture of mentorship in industry.
Concetta La Marca is Senior Principal Consultant in Reaction Engineering at Chemours, with a distinguished career advancing industrial chemical processes and product development. She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware, a B.S. from MIT, and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Delaware. Dr. La Marca’s expertise includes reaction kinetics, reactor design, microkinetic modeling, and scale-up of fluorochemical and refrigerant processes.
Her work has been recognized with election to the National Academy of Engineering (2025) for contributions to advanced, environmentally sustainable refrigerants. Dr. La Marca has served as adjunct faculty at Rowan University. She is deeply committed to mentoring emerging engineers, fostering collaboration across disciplines, and engaging with the broader scientific community.
Dr. La Marca is an active leader in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), serving as Fellow and Board member, and in the International Symposium on Chemical Reaction Engineering (ISCRE), where she currently serves as its President. She has contributed to editorial boards, authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, and holds several patents. Her dedication to mentorship, collaboration, and professional service continues to shape the field of reaction engineering.
TIME Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION Pancoe Auditorium, Pancoe-NSUHS Life Sciences Pavilion map it
CONTACT Olivia Wise olivia.wise@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
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May20
EVENT DETAILS
lessInformation forthcoming
TIME Wednesday, May 20, 2026 at 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
LOCATION LR5, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Will Chaussee william.chaussee@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
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May21
EVENT DETAILS
lessThe Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering is pleased to present a seminar by Jianping Fu, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Fu will present a seminar titled "Bioengineered Human Embryo and Organ Models as the New Frontier."
Early human development remains largely mysterious and challenging to study. In this talk, I will describe our efforts to harness human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) and bioengineering approaches to create controllable models of human peri-gastrulation development and early organogenesis. These models recapitulate key in vivo developmental landmarks, including amniotic cavity formation, amniotic ectoderm-epiblast patterning, primordial germ cell specification, embryonic germ layer organization, yolk sac formation, and primitive hematopoiesis. Our current work focuses on using these controllable models as experimental platforms to dissect the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying cell fate decisions, tissue patterning, and self-organization during human peri-gastrulation.
I will also discuss our application of bioengineering tools and hPSCs to model critical aspects of early human neural development, including neural patterning in both brain and spinal cord regions, along rostrocaudal and dorsoventral axes. Ongoing projects further aim to model key features of human heart and gut tube development, as well as somitogenesis. Together, these efforts have established a suite of bioengineered human embryo and organ models with in vivo-like spatiotemporal cell differentiation and organization, providing powerful platforms for studying human development, physiology, and disease.
Dr. Jianping Fu is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Fu’s research integrates bioengineering, stem cell biology, and developmental biology to advance our understanding of human development and disease. His work has made foundational contributions to the creation of stem cell-based embryo and organ models, most notably establishing the first three-dimensional human embryo model (Nature Communications, 2017; Nature, 2019) and the first patterned, three-dimensional human neural tube model containing both brain and spinal cord regions (Nature, 2024). Dr. Fu received major awards from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the American Chemical Society, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the Biomedical Engineering Society. He is an elected Fellow of AAAS, AIMBE, RSC, ASME, IAMBE, and BMES. Beyond his research, Dr. Fu is deeply engaged in scientific leadership and service. He served on the ISSCR Guidelines Working Group and now chairs the ISSCR Scientific Programs Committee. In recognition of his service, he received the ISSCR Public Service Award in 2025. He is currently co-Editor-in-Chief of npj Regenerative Medicine and serves on editorial boards of several journals including Cell Stem Cell and Biophysical Journal.
TIME Thursday, May 21, 2026 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION Pancoe Auditorium, Pancoe-NSUHS Life Sciences Pavilion map it
CONTACT Olivia Wise olivia.wise@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
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May27
EVENT DETAILS
lessInformation forthcoming
TIME Wednesday, May 27, 2026 at 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
LOCATION LR5, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Will Chaussee william.chaussee@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
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May28
EVENT DETAILS
lessThe Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering is pleased to present a seminar by Brandon DeKosky, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.
Dr. DeKosky will present a seminar titled "Scalable Approaches to Study and Engineer Immune Receptors."
Our immune systems use highly variable sets of adaptive immune proteins – antibodies and T cell receptors – that provide targeted protection and memory against foreign agents. Current methods to discover new immune drugs and explore the vast diversity of adaptive immune proteins are generally limited in either quality or throughput. The limitations of current screening technologies make protein drug discovery and engineering time-consuming, expensive, and risky. To address these bottlenecks, we established a suite of new high-throughput functional screening platforms for antibodies and T cell receptors. We will share applications of these technologies to answer basic questions in adaptive immune recognition, to study the biophysical properties that support protective immunity, and to improve immune drug discovery.
Dr. Brandon DeKosky is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT and a Core Member of the Ragon Institute of MGH, Harvard, and MIT. Research efforts at the DeKosky lab have developed a suite of high-throughput single-cell platforms for large-scale analyses of adaptive immunity. These studies are advancing new approaches in biologic drug discovery, and are cataloguing the vast genetic and functional diversity of adaptive immune cells across disease settings. Key application areas include infectious disease interventions, especially malaria and HIV-1 prevention, and the development of personalized cancer therapies.
Dr. DeKosky has been awarded several honors for his research program. His Ph.D. research was supported by a Hertz Foundation Fellowship and an NSF Graduate Fellowship. DeKosky was also awarded a K99 Pathway to Independence Award and an NIH DP5 Early Independence Award. More recently he received a Department of Defense Career Development Award, the James S. Huston Antibody Science Talent Award, the Amgen Young Investigator Award, and the American Association of Immunologists ASPIRE award.
TIME Thursday, May 28, 2026 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION Pancoe Auditorium, Pancoe-NSUHS Life Sciences Pavilion map it
CONTACT Olivia Wise olivia.wise@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
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Jun3
EVENT DETAILS
lessInformation forthcoming
TIME Wednesday, June 3, 2026 at 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
LOCATION LR5, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Will Chaussee william.chaussee@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)
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Jun4
EVENT DETAILS
lessThe Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering is pleased to present our annual Contextualizing Engineering Seminar with Kevin Solomon, Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware.
Dr. Solomon will present a seminar titled "HIDDEN FIGURES: The unseen power of gut microbes and a culture of inclusion advancing next‑gen biomanufacturing."
Microbial chemical factories are sustainable biomanufacturing platforms that complement traditional petrochemical industries by using renewable and/or alternative carbon sources. Most attractive of these are those derived from unconventional microbes due to their rich repertoire of enzymes to efficiently process diverse carbon sources and unique capacity to catalyze certain industrial chemistries at scale. These properties are frequently a consequence of the high resource competition in their native exotic environments, such as animal microbiomes. However, these microbes remain poorly characterized with few tools to deploy them for industrial applications. In this talk, I will describe our progress towards the study and engineering of these systems for the use of post-consumer plastics and lignocellulosic biomass. I will also share some of our work building an inclusive community of scholars to foster development of a more creative next generation workforce.
Dr. Kevin Solomon is the Thomas & Kipp Gutshall Career Development Associate Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware. His work focuses on developing environmental microbes and microbiomes that are well-adapted for applications in sustainability, materials, and health via systems and synthetic biology approaches. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering from McMaster University, an MS in Chemical Engineering Practice from MIT, and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT. He has been recognized with multiple awards for research, teaching, and service including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from President Biden in 2025, a US Department of Energy Early Career Award (2019), an NSF CAREER Award (2022), the Society for Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology (SIMB) Early Career Award (2022), the Lloyd N. Ferguson Young Scientist Award from NOBCChE (2023), the American Chemical Society (ACS) Biochemical Technology (BIOT) Division Early Career Award (2023) and the AIChE Division 15 Early Career Award (2023). He has provided expert testimony before the 116th US House of Representatives on the convergence of engineering and biology and has coauthored several technology roadmaps for engineering biology.
TIME Thursday, June 4, 2026 at 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
LOCATION Pancoe Auditorium, Pancoe-NSUHS Life Sciences Pavilion map it
CONTACT Olivia Wise olivia.wise@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick-Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE)