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Brandon Holt presents at Gordon Research Seminar
Brandon gave a podium talk titled “Biological Bits for Computing Classical and Quantum-Inspired Algorithms” at the Complex Active and Adaptive Material Systems Gordon Research Seminar in Ventura, CA. This conference was focused on formulating new ways to inscribe the vital functions found in biological systems into synthetic materials and complex structures. Congrats Brandon and great to hear your talk was well-received!
Dr. Kwong highlights work on protease sensors for NASH at Keystone Symposium
The global prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) has risen precipitously over the past two decades in parallel with the worldwide obesity epidemic, and these diseases are associated with progressive fibrosis and an increased risk of liver cancer. The field lacks an integrated understanding of risk prediction, pathogenesis and validated biomarkers to predict or track disease progression without reliance on liver biopsies. Dr. Kwong presented work from our lab and Glympse Bio harnessing synthetic biomarkers as protease activity sensors for noninvasive monitoring of NASH.
Detecting antigen-specific T cells with DNA barcoded tetramers published in Analytical Chemistry
Our work on synthesizing DNA-barcoded pMHC tetramers to detect single antigen-specific T cells by ddPCR was published in Analytical Chemistry! Congrats to Shreyas and the team!
Read the full manuscript here.
LSI awarded grant from the DARPA PREPARE Program
LSI is part of a team of researchers from Georgia Tech, Emory, Duke, Rockefeller, and UGA that has been awarded funding from DARPA for ‘Thwarting Influenza with RNA-powered Modulators (ThIRM)’.
The DARPA PReemptive Expression of Protective Alleles and Response Elements (PREPARE) program is aimed at delivering a capability to generate programmable gene modulator MCMs (PGM-MCMs) to enable safe, transient, and preemptive activation of intrinsic host defenses against a variety of threats to health.
Read more about the program here.
Dr. Kwong gives talk at nanoDDS 2018
The 16th International Nanomedicine and Drug Delivery Symposium highlights new groundbreaking discoveries and developments in nanomedicine and drug delivery. Revolutionary advances in this area require collaboration amongst researchers working in a diverse array of fields including nanotechnology, materials science, imaging, cell biology, tissue engineering, gene editing, drug and gene delivery as well as clinical research. Dr. Kwong’s talk “Harnessing protease activity as ‘biological bits’ for programmable medicine” demonstrated our approach of using proteases to guide next-gen treatment regimens.
The 16th International Nanomedicine and Drug Delivery Symposium highlights new groundbreaking discoveries and developments in nanomedicine and drug delivery. Revolutionary advances in this area require collaboration amongst researchers working in a diverse array of fields including nanotechnology, materials science, imaging, cell biology, tissue engineering, gene editing, drug and gene delivery as well as clinical research. Dr. Kwong’s talk “Harnessing protease activity as ‘biological bits’ for programmable medicine” demonstrated our approach of using proteases to guide next-gen treatment regimens.
Anirudh Sivakumar joins LSI as a new graduate student
Anirudh grew up in Dallas, TX. His love for chemistry and tenure as a mathlete spurred him to graduate from the University of Texas at Austin summa cum laude with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a B.S. in Mathematics. As a Cockrell Engineering Honors Scholar, Anirudh worked in Dr. Lydia Contreras’ lab, investigating the effects of disease-impactful chemical modifications on tRNA structure, and later in Dr. George Georgiou’s lab, helping engineer a protein therapeutic to fight cancerous immune suppression. He spent his summers studying the structure of proteins related to stroke and HIV latency at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (with Dr. Patrick Wintrode), and Merck Research Labs. Anirudh is now an NSF Fellow in the joint Georgia Tech and Emory University BME PhD program and joined the LSI to make an impact on cancer immunotherapy. Outside of graduate school, Anirudh loves watching sports (excessively), trying new foods, spending time with family, and exploring Atlanta.
Dr. Kwong invited to speak at Northwestern University
Dr. Kwong will be giving a seminar at Northwestern University in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics on Sept. 13. His talk is titled “Harnessing Protease Activity as ‘Biological Bits’ for Programmable Medicine”.
Ida Su joins LSI as a post-doctoral fellow
Fang-Yi “Ida” Su joins LSI as a new post-doc. Ida originally hails from Taiwan and came to the United States to complete her Ph.D. studies at University of Washington, where she developed polymeric antibiotic prodrugs for pulmonary bacterial infections with Prof. Patrick Stayton. Read more about Ida here.
Learn how we synthesize protease nanosensors with our latest JOVE publication
Brandon walks through the synthesis of iron oxide nanosensors in our latest publication in JOVE. Watch the video here.