EVENT DETAILS
Measuring Metabolites in Biofilms and Other Complex Systems
AbstractIn nature, small molecules are often produced by macro- and microorganisms in order to facilitate communication and drive biological processes to the benefit (or detriment) of the community as a whole. Chemical gradients and chemical cues via the production of small molecules are ubiquitous across biological systems and my lab has used imaging mass spectrometry to study these cues and gradients in cheese rind-derived microbial co-cultures and biofilm forming Gram negative microbes. However, the idea that there may be chemical gradients or chemical cues in the human body has been under explored, especially in terms of cancer progression and metastasis. Many cancers tend to colonize specific tissues, and it remains unclear why specific cancers colonize specific organs. My lab has begun to rethink the origins of cancer based on our knowledge of chemical ecology in microbial based systems and nature and have developed a novel platform to study the chemical gradients and chemical cues found in specific organ microenvironments to facilitate a new understanding of primary and secondary metastases in cancer. My research is directed towards understanding geochemistry related to radioactive waste disposal, environmental restoration, and climate change. My research has focused on coupling laboratory or field studies with state-of-the-art analytical techniques and/or geochemical modeling to determine important rock-water interactions that control water composition and the eventual transport of contaminants. My current focus is on the role that geochemical reactions play in geological sequestration of carbon dioxide.
BiographyDr. Sanchez earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz with Roger Linington as an NSF graduate research fellow. She joined Pieter Dorrestein's lab at UC San Diego as an NIH IRACDA Fellow and her research helped establish methods for probing and characterizing metabolic exchanges in polymicrobial communities, specifically those associated with cheese rinds. Since 2015, she has been in her independent position at UIC and her NIH and NSF funded research program utilizes a variety of mass spectrometry techniques to probe how cells and microbes use chemistry to coordinate activities in a variety of biological systems.
TIME Friday October 4, 2019 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
LOCATION A230, Technological Institute map it
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CONTACT Tierney Acott tierney-acott@northwestern.edu
CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering