EVENT DETAILS
Genetic Technologies to Engineer and Understand the Microbiome
Abstract: Microbes that inhabit the human body are integral to human health and are implicated in many diseases, ranging from inflammatory bowel disease, autism, metabolic syndrome, and cancer. Due to its high connectivity with human physiology, precise manipulation of the microbiota has therapeutic potential across multiple physiological axes. Here, I will discuss synthetic biology technologies that can be applied to engineer and better understand the microbiota, including genetic modification of commensal organisms, bacteriophage engineering, and an ingestible bacterial-electronic medical device to monitor gastrointestinal health. These efforts set the stage for fundamental mechanistic studies of host-microbe interaction, as well as translational efforts to advance cellular and viral microbiome therapies to the clinic.
Bio: Mark's interest in microbial life began in Montreal, Canada, where he completed his BSc. in Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University. Inspired by the nascent field of synthetic biology, he pursued studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, completing his PhD in microbiology as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) International Student Fellow and a Qualcomm Innovation Fellow. Mark joined the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the Department of Microbiology as an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago in 2019.
TIME Friday January 17, 2020 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
LOCATION A230, Technological Institute map it
ADD TO CALENDAR&group= echo $value['group_name']; ?>&location= echo htmlentities($value['location']); ?>&pipurl= echo $value['ppurl']; ?>" class="button_outlook_export">
CONTACT Tierney Acott tierney-acott@northwestern.edu
CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering