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PRODID:-//Memento EPFL//
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SUMMARY:EPFL BioE Talks SERIES  "Step by Step: Engineering Protein Cages f
 or RNA Delivery"
DTSTART:20231204T160000
DTEND:20231204T170000
DTSTAMP:20260508T142615Z
UID:18fc98126415159ccc25dd1458ecbe0f9eca76682d2e0f1ada2582e4
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Angela Steinauer\, Laboratory of Biomolecular Engineerin
 g and Nanomedicine (LIBN)\, EPFL\, Lausanne (CH)\nWEEKLY EPFL BIOE TALKS S
 ERIES\n\nAbstract:\nRecent advances in RNA therapies\, notably the mRNA va
 ccines for COVID-19\, have underscored the critical role of efficient gene
  delivery methods. While lipid nanoparticles and viral vectors have proven
  their efficacy\, engineered virus-like protein cages stand out as a poten
 tial alternative. Engineered protein cages have distinct advantages: they 
 are constructed from the ground up\, allowing complete flexibility for fun
 ctional engineering. Given their protein-based nature\, they are amenable 
 to optimization via directed evolution techniques. In line with Feynman's 
 axiom\, 'What I cannot create\, I do not understand\,' our research is  f
 ollowing a bottom-up approach to engineer virus-like properties\, step by 
 step\, with the ultimate goal to deliver mRNA into cells. This approach ma
 y not only introduce alternative methodologies for gene delivery but also 
 provide a new lens through which to understand viral evolution.\n\nIn this
  lecture\, the evolved nucleocapsid NC4 will serve as a model to showcase 
 the power of protein engineering and directed evolution in the bottom-up c
 onstruction of virus-like properties. Finally\, I will offer a brief visio
 n of upcoming research endeavors from the Laboratory of Biomolecular Engin
 eering and Nanomedicine (LIBN).\n\nBio:\nAngela was born and raised in the
  small town of Gross\, near Einsiedeln (SZ) in Switzerland. She pursued he
 r bachelor's and master's studies in chemistry at the University of Zurich
 \, graduating in 2012. She then relocated to the United States to complete
  her Ph.D. in Chemical Biology at Yale University\, supervised by Prof. Al
 anna Schepartz. During her Ph.D.\, she was honored with the Howard Hughes 
 Medical Institute International Student Research Fellowship. After receivi
 ng her doctorate in 2018\, Angela returned to Switzerland to join ETH Zuri
 ch. Her first postdoctoral work in the Hilvert Lab at ETH Zurich focused o
 n the characterization of protein cages for RNA delivery applications and 
 was supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowsh
 ip. She then undertook a one-year postdoctoral position in the Leroux grou
 p at ETH\, with a focus on the engineering of mucolytic enzymes. Angela no
 w leads the Laboratory of Biomolecular Engineering and Nanomedicine (LIBN)
  at EPFL\, where she aims to develop protein-based gene carriers by combin
 ing the tools of protein engineering and directed evolution.\n\n\nZoom lin
 k (with one-time registration for the whole series) for attending remotely
 : https://go.epfl.ch/EPFLBioETalks\n\n\nInstructions for 1st-year Ph.D. st
 udents who are under EDBB’s mandatory seminar attendance rule:\nIF you a
 re not attending in-person in the room\, please make sure to\n\n	send D. R
 einhard a note before noon on seminar day\, informing that you plan to att
 end the talk online\, and\n	be signed in on Zoom with a recognizable user 
 name (not a pseudonym making it difficult or impossible to be identified).
 \n\nStudents attending the seminar in-person should collect a confirmation
  signature after the talk - please print your own signature sheet beforeha
 nd (71 kB pdf available for download here).
LOCATION:SV 1717 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==SV%201717 https://go.epfl.ch/
 EPFLBioETalks
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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