EPFL BioE Talks SERIES "From Genomically Minimal Bacteria to an RNA-Lipid World"
Event details
| Date | 24.03.2025 |
| Hour | 12:15 › 13:15 |
| Speaker | James P. Sáenz, Ph.D., Group Leader, B CUBE Center for Molecular Bioengineering, Technical University, Dresden (D) |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
WEEKLY EPFL BIOE TALKS SERIES (sandwiches provided)
Abstract:
The cell membrane is an organizational hub for essential processes like division and metabolism. Deciphering the design principles of living membranes is key to understanding cellular organization and understanding life's origins. In this talk, I will present two approaches my lab is pioneering to decipher the fundamental roles of lipids and membranes. First, we have developed approaches to tune and minimize genomically minimal bacterial model organisms, demonstrating that two lipids are sufficient (but far from optimal) for life. Using these minimal bacteria, we can explore the role of lipids in cellular fitness. Second, we are exploring how lipids can selectively interact with, and modulate RNA activity, giving insights into a primordial RNA world and enabling the design of synthetic membrane sensors and riboregulatory mechanisms. Together, these approaches provide new insights into the role of lipid diversity and membrane biophysics in the origin and organization of life.
Bio:
James Sáenz is a group leader at the B CUBE Center for Molecular Bioengineering at TU Dresden. His career has taken several turns, which have been motivated by a passion for understanding how life works and how the co-evolution of life and Earth has led to modern cells. He completed his PhD in chemical oceanography at MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution under the guidance of Professors Timothy Eglinton and Roger Summons. There, he was introduced to the use of lipids as molecular fossils to reconstruct the history of life. James then moved to Dresden for a postdoctoral fellowship in Professor Kai Simons' lab at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG), where he investigated the evolution of membrane organization prior to the advent of sterols. Currently James’ lab B CUBE Center for Molecular Bioengineering is developing minimal model systems to study the role of lipid complexity in membrane function and exploring how lipid-RNA interactions can be engineered for riboregulation in synthetic systems and their implications for the origin of life.
Zoom link (with one-time registration for the whole series) for attending remotely: https://go.epfl.ch/EPFLBioETalks
Instructions for 1st-year Ph.D. students who are under EDBB’s mandatory seminar attendance rule:
IN CASE you cannot attend in-person in the room, please make sure to
Abstract:
The cell membrane is an organizational hub for essential processes like division and metabolism. Deciphering the design principles of living membranes is key to understanding cellular organization and understanding life's origins. In this talk, I will present two approaches my lab is pioneering to decipher the fundamental roles of lipids and membranes. First, we have developed approaches to tune and minimize genomically minimal bacterial model organisms, demonstrating that two lipids are sufficient (but far from optimal) for life. Using these minimal bacteria, we can explore the role of lipids in cellular fitness. Second, we are exploring how lipids can selectively interact with, and modulate RNA activity, giving insights into a primordial RNA world and enabling the design of synthetic membrane sensors and riboregulatory mechanisms. Together, these approaches provide new insights into the role of lipid diversity and membrane biophysics in the origin and organization of life.
Bio:
James Sáenz is a group leader at the B CUBE Center for Molecular Bioengineering at TU Dresden. His career has taken several turns, which have been motivated by a passion for understanding how life works and how the co-evolution of life and Earth has led to modern cells. He completed his PhD in chemical oceanography at MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution under the guidance of Professors Timothy Eglinton and Roger Summons. There, he was introduced to the use of lipids as molecular fossils to reconstruct the history of life. James then moved to Dresden for a postdoctoral fellowship in Professor Kai Simons' lab at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG), where he investigated the evolution of membrane organization prior to the advent of sterols. Currently James’ lab B CUBE Center for Molecular Bioengineering is developing minimal model systems to study the role of lipid complexity in membrane function and exploring how lipid-RNA interactions can be engineered for riboregulation in synthetic systems and their implications for the origin of life.
Zoom link (with one-time registration for the whole series) for attending remotely: https://go.epfl.ch/EPFLBioETalks
Instructions for 1st-year Ph.D. students who are under EDBB’s mandatory seminar attendance rule:
IN CASE you cannot attend in-person in the room, please make sure to
- send D. Reinhard a note well ahead of time (ideally before seminar day), informing that you plan to attend the talk online, and, during seminar:
- be signed in on Zoom with a recognizable user name (not any alias making it difficult or impossible to identify you).
Practical information
- Informed public
- Registration required
Organizer
- Prof. Anne-Florence Bitbol, Institute of Bioengineering
Contact
- Institute of Bioengineering (IBI), Dietrich REINHARD