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SUMMARY:IMX Seminar Series - Designing super-specificity with precision ma
 terials
DTSTART:20181210T131500
DTEND:20181210T141500
DTSTAMP:20260510T042924Z
UID:a161fd030e3fa37de16c06cd4e8b3b16d9c1814532c73243b66ccd42
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Maartje Bastings\, EPFL Switzerland\nUnderstanding the m
 echanisms\, extent\, and consequences of receptor co-localization and inte
 r-receptor communication is critical for the design and development of the
 rapeutic nanoparticles and functional biomaterial scaffolds. Nature orches
 trates specificity and selectivity in receptor targeting by introducing mu
 ltivalency to control binding affinities. (i) Cell-cell interactions\, cel
 l-matrix binding and immune activation all are controlled through multiple
  weak interactions between one or more types of ligand-receptor pairs. Mat
 erials scientists have utilized this concept to achieve targeted delivery\
 , increased specificity and selectivity of therapeutic and diagnostic liga
 nd-functionalized nanoparticles. Numerous ligand-presenting materials have
  been developed yet the translation to clinical success is limited. The ma
 in cause hereof is a lack of control in particle shape\, size\, ligand-spa
 cing and ligand-number\, resulting in a distribution of particles with var
 ying functionality. Precision engineering of functional materials is requi
 red to acquire insight into these fundamental natural mechanisms.\nIn this
  talk\, I aim to develop a precision-engineered materials platform to gain
  quantitative insights into the fundamental mechanisms of complex multival
 ency that lead to super-specificity. I show how the development of multiv
 alent particles with controlled ligand spacing\, heterogeneity\, stoichiom
 etry and positioning are needed to accurately study the role of these para
 meters in overall binding affinity on model surfaces and on the cell membr
 ane. Together with new analysis methods\, theory and simulations we aim to
  introduce an unmet level of accuracy and control in functional materials 
 self-assembly and truly be super-specific.   \n\n(i) Kiessling\, L. L.\,
  Gestwicki\, J. E. & Strong\, L. E. Synthetic multivalent ligands as probe
 s of signal transduction. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed Engl. 45\, 2348–2368 (200
 6). \nBio:\nMaartje Bastings studied Biomedical Engineering at the Eindhov
 en University of Technology (TU/e) and graduated Cum Laude in the group of
  Prof. E. W. “Bert” Meijer\, where she continued her Ph.D. program fun
 ded by a Toptalent Fellowship from the Dutch Science Foundation (NWO)\, co
 supervised by Dr. Patricia Y. W. Dankers. Her research focused on the unde
 rstanding of multivalent binding mechanisms for directed targeting and the
  development of supramolecular biomaterials\, and she received her Ph.D. d
 egree in 2012. She was awarded the University Academic Award in 2013 for b
 est Ph.D. thesis at the TU/e. She moved to the Wyss Institute of Harvard U
 niversity in Boston as a NWO Rubicon and Human Frontier Science Program po
 stdoctoral fellow in the lab of Prof. William M. Shih. She studies DNA as 
 programmable biomaterial to design immune responses and assemble into mult
 imodal nanoparticles. Since January 2017 she is heading the Programmable 
 Biomaterials Laboratory as tenure track Assistant Professor in the Materia
 ls Science and Engineering Department at EPFL\, Switzerland\, developing
  novel precision-engineered materials as tools to better understand fund
 amental mechanisms in multivalent interactions.
LOCATION:MXF 1 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==MXF%201
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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