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SUMMARY:MechE Colloquium: Supramolecular Approaches to Design Novel Antivi
 rals
DTSTART:20201208T121500
DTEND:20201208T131500
DTSTAMP:20260406T103731Z
UID:d2b8d86d24b1e3f09e3daef1284b02bacc2157ae9bf8eead1911c420
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Francesco Stellacci\, Supramolecular Nanomaterials and I
 nterfaces Laboratory\, EPFL School of Engineering (STI)\, Institute of Mat
 erials (IMX)\nAbstract:\nViral infections are among the main causes of dea
 th in the world. When prevention is not an option\, antiviral drugs are th
 e last resort to prevent the spread and the mortality of these infections.
  There are only a few effective drugs on the market\, for the most part th
 ey prevent intracellular viral replication. Unfortunately\, they are too f
 ew when compared to the many viruses that threaten humans.\n\nIn this talk
 \, I will show a new design rule to achieve drugs that fight viruses extra
 cellularly by irreversibly inhibiting their infectivity\, i.e. I will show
  how to create virucidal compounds. The design of these macromolecular vir
 ucidal agents starts by a bio-mimic approach and is characterized by the l
 imited toxicity towards host cells that one would expect from such compoun
 ds. Yet\, I will demonstrate that the multivalent binding to the viruses\,
  coupled with a large hydrophobic contact between the compounds and the vi
 rus leads to a loss of integrity of the virion that obviously leads to an 
 irreversible loss of infectivity. Results in and ex-vivo will be illustrat
 ed especially for the cases of influenza\, herpes\, and respiratory syncyt
 ial virus.\n\nBio:\nProf. Francesco Stellacci is a Materials Engineer grad
 uated at the Politecnico di Milano with a thesis on photochromic polymers.
  He did a post-doc with Prof. J.W. Perry in the Department of Chemistry at
  the University of Arizona on two-photon microfabrication. In 2002 he beca
 me an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engin
 eering at MIT (Cambridge\, USA). There he became an associate professor wi
 th tenure in 2009. In 2010\, he moved as a full professor to EPFL. He has 
 won numerous awards\, among them the Technology Review TR35 ’top innovat
 or under 35’\, the Popular Science Magazine ’Brilliant 10’\, and the
  EMRS EU40. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry\, of the Glob
 al Young Academy\, and of the European Academy of Sciences\, and he is a M
 ember of the Academia Europaea.
LOCATION:Zoom https://epfl.zoom.us/s/87688979401
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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