Event
Bioengineering Seminar Series: Tara L. Deans
Friday, February 17, 2012
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Room 1200 Jeong H. Kim Engineering Bldg.
Professor Helim Aranda-Espinoza
helim@umd.edu
Moving Synthetic Biology Forward: Engineering Biomaterials to Control Synthetic Gene Networks in 3D
Tara L. Deans
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Johns Hopkins University
The rapidly emerging field of synthetic biology originated in simple model organisms such as yeast and bacteria. However, as synthetic biology has expanded into mammalian systems; it is increasingly more important to consider the complex environments in which these cells are grown. Biomaterials will play an important role in advancing synthetic biology to mammalian systems because they provide a three-dimensional (3D) environment where cells can behave as they do in vivo, in addition to organizing and delivering therapeutic cells to locations of interest. I will present a multidisciplinary approach interfacing synthetic biology and biomaterials to activate and control genetic circuits in 3D scaffolds. This approach allows for more sophisticated studies of genetic circuits in environments that closer mimic the cells natural settings, and facilitate cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions studies. Moreover, this approach has the potential to provide mechanisms for translating synthetic biology for clinical applications.
