Prosthetic Gene Networks for Biomedical Applications
Event details
| Date | 29.04.2015 |
| Hour | 11:00 |
| Speaker | Prof. Martin Fussenegger, ETH Zurich, Basel (CH) |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
DISTINGUISHED LECTURE IN BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
Abstract:
Since Paracelsus’ (1493-1541) definition that the dosing makes the drug the basic treatment strategies have lagely remained unchanged. We continue to use a precise prescribed dose of a small-molecule drug, a protein therapeutic or a therapeutic transgene to modulate or complement the activity of a disease-relevant target. However, this treatment concept does neither consider the metabolic dynamics nor the interdependence of the most important pathophysiologies of the 21st century such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disorders. Synthetic biology-inspired prosthetic networks may act as metabolic prostheses that provide the dynamic interventions, the immediate pre-disease action and the multi-target capacity required to meet with the treatment challenges of the future. Prosthetic networks consist of synthetic sensor-effector gene circuits that (i) seamlessly operate in implanted designer cells, (ii) constantly sense, monitor and score metabolic disturbanes in peripheral circulation, (iii) process OFF-level concentrations of pathologic metabolites, and (iv) coordinate an adjusted therapeutic response in an (v) automatic and self-sufficient manner. We will present our latest generation of synthetic mammalian gene circuits and provide a few examples of prosthetic networks operating in animal models of prominent human diseases to highlight the challenges and impact of synthetic biology on future biomedical applications.
Bio:
Martin Fussenegger is professor of biotechnology and bioengineering at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering in Basel (D-BSSE) of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the ETH Zurich. In 1992 he graduated in molecular biology and genetics with Werner Arber at the Biocenter in Basel, joined the Max Planck Institute of Biology for his Ph.D. thesis in medical microbiology (1993-1994) and continued his studies on host-pathogen interactions at the Max Planck Institute of Infection Biology as a postdoctoral fellow (1995). In 1996, Martin Fussenegger joined the research unit of James E. Bailey at the ETH Institute of Biotechnology as an independent group leader where he refocused his research on mammalian cell engineering, a topic for which he received his habilitation in 2000. In 2002 Martin Fussenegger became Swiss National Science Foundation professor of molecular biotechnology at the ETH Institute of Biotechnology prior to being awarded a chair in biotechnology and bioengineering at the ETH Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering (2004). Since 2006, Martin Fussenegger is director of studies of the ETH biotechnology curriculum and director of the ETH Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering.
Martin Fussenegger has published over 165 refereed research papers, is coinventor of several patents, Vice-Chairman of the European Society for Animal Cell Technology (ESACT), editor of the Journal of Biotechnology, editorial board member of Cell Engineering and Biotechnology & Bioengineering and cofounder of the biotechnology startup companies Cistronics Cell Technology GmbH and Cistronics Antiinfectives AG. For his contributions to drug discovery and cell engineering Martin Fussenegger received the de Vigier and the Elmar Gaden Awards in 2003, became a member of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2007 and was the first non-US recipient of the Merck Award in Cell Engineering in 2008.
Abstract:
Since Paracelsus’ (1493-1541) definition that the dosing makes the drug the basic treatment strategies have lagely remained unchanged. We continue to use a precise prescribed dose of a small-molecule drug, a protein therapeutic or a therapeutic transgene to modulate or complement the activity of a disease-relevant target. However, this treatment concept does neither consider the metabolic dynamics nor the interdependence of the most important pathophysiologies of the 21st century such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disorders. Synthetic biology-inspired prosthetic networks may act as metabolic prostheses that provide the dynamic interventions, the immediate pre-disease action and the multi-target capacity required to meet with the treatment challenges of the future. Prosthetic networks consist of synthetic sensor-effector gene circuits that (i) seamlessly operate in implanted designer cells, (ii) constantly sense, monitor and score metabolic disturbanes in peripheral circulation, (iii) process OFF-level concentrations of pathologic metabolites, and (iv) coordinate an adjusted therapeutic response in an (v) automatic and self-sufficient manner. We will present our latest generation of synthetic mammalian gene circuits and provide a few examples of prosthetic networks operating in animal models of prominent human diseases to highlight the challenges and impact of synthetic biology on future biomedical applications.
Bio:
Martin Fussenegger is professor of biotechnology and bioengineering at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering in Basel (D-BSSE) of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the ETH Zurich. In 1992 he graduated in molecular biology and genetics with Werner Arber at the Biocenter in Basel, joined the Max Planck Institute of Biology for his Ph.D. thesis in medical microbiology (1993-1994) and continued his studies on host-pathogen interactions at the Max Planck Institute of Infection Biology as a postdoctoral fellow (1995). In 1996, Martin Fussenegger joined the research unit of James E. Bailey at the ETH Institute of Biotechnology as an independent group leader where he refocused his research on mammalian cell engineering, a topic for which he received his habilitation in 2000. In 2002 Martin Fussenegger became Swiss National Science Foundation professor of molecular biotechnology at the ETH Institute of Biotechnology prior to being awarded a chair in biotechnology and bioengineering at the ETH Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering (2004). Since 2006, Martin Fussenegger is director of studies of the ETH biotechnology curriculum and director of the ETH Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering.
Martin Fussenegger has published over 165 refereed research papers, is coinventor of several patents, Vice-Chairman of the European Society for Animal Cell Technology (ESACT), editor of the Journal of Biotechnology, editorial board member of Cell Engineering and Biotechnology & Bioengineering and cofounder of the biotechnology startup companies Cistronics Cell Technology GmbH and Cistronics Antiinfectives AG. For his contributions to drug discovery and cell engineering Martin Fussenegger received the de Vigier and the Elmar Gaden Awards in 2003, became a member of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2007 and was the first non-US recipient of the Merck Award in Cell Engineering in 2008.
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free