Plenary Lecture I

Prof. Adam Arkin

Department of Bioengineering, University of California

USA

H-index: 107 (record from Google Scholar)

Research

• Systems and Synthetic Biology
• Environmental Microbiology of Bacteria and Viruses
• Bioenergy
• Biomedicine
• Bioremediation
• Space
• Green and Sustainable Manufacturing
• Sustainability

Background

Adam Arkin is the Dean A. Richard Newton Memorial Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley and Senior Faculty Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He and his laboratory specialize in the systems and synthetic biological approaches for discovery, prediction, control and design of microbial and viral functions and behaviors in environmental contexts (https://arkinlab.bio).

He is the chief scientist of the Department of Energy Scientific Focus Area, ENIGMA (Ecosystems and Networks Integrated with Genes and Molecular Assemblies, http://enigma.lbl.gov), designed to understand, at a molecular level, the impact of microbial communities on their ecosystems with specific focus on terrestrial communities in contaminated watersheds.

He also directs the Department of Energy Systems Biology Knowledgebase (KBase) program: (http://kbase.us) an open platform for comparative functional genomics, systems and synthetic biology for microbes, plants and their communities, and for sharing results and methods with other scientists.

He is director of the Center for Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space (https://cubes.space) which seeks microbial and plant-based biological solutions for sustained, closed-loop systems that reduce the launch mass and improves reliability and quality of food, pharmaceuticals, fuels and materials for astronauts on a mission to Mars. In addition to these, he is currently working on live therapeutics for airway infections and antibiotic resistant bacteria as these are likely to be increasing as climate changes.

Presentation

Microbial Systems Characterization and Engineering For Extreme Environments

In the quest to aid and mitigate the environmental impact of human activities on Earth and in space, our research focuses on leveraging microbial technologies. We address specific systems engineering challenges intertwined with environmental applications, presenting advancements in three key areas: 1) Enhancing prediction and control of microbial denitrification in environments contaminated with nitrates and heavy metals; 2) Developing integrated biomanufacturing systems for producing pharmaceuticals, food, and bioplastics, supporting long-duration space missions, notably to Mars; 3) Researching phage therapy approaches to combat emerging antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This keynote will highlight our progress in harnessing microbial systems for sustainability in extreme conditions.

Plenary Lecture II

Prof. Teri Odom

Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University

USA

H-index: 75 (record from Google Scholar)

Research

• Nanoscience
• Plasmonics and Nanophotonics
• Optical Properties of Nanomaterials
• Imaging
• Materials Chemistry
• Cancer Therapeutics

Background

Teri W. Odom is the Joan Husting Madden and William H. Madden, Jr. Professor of Chemistry and Chair of the Chemistry Department at Northwestern University. She is an expert in designing structured nanoscale materials that exhibit extraordinary size and shape-dependent optical and physical properties.

Odom is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also a Fellow of the American Physical Society, Materials Research Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, American Chemical Society, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, Optica, and American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Odom is Editor-in-Chief of Nano Letters.

Presentation

Nanoparticle Shape Effects on Nano-Bio Interactions

Anisotropic gold nanoparticles exhibit shape-dependent properties beneficial for drug delivery vehicles, imaging probes, and therapeutic agents. Although increased therapeutic efficacy has been realized, direct visualization of how engineered nanoparticles interact with specific organelles or cellular components has been limited. Such interactions will have implications for fundamentals in cancer biology as well as in the design of translational nanoconstructs. This talk will describe how drug-loaded gold nanostars can behave as probes to interrogate how targeting nanoconstructs interact with cells at the nanoscale. We will focus on model cancer cell systems that can be used to visualize how gold nanoconstructs target cells, rotate, and translate on the plasma membrane and are endocytosed and trafficked intracellularly. Differences in single-particle dynamics reveals how nanoparticle geometry affects binding to cell-membrane receptors and internalization. That nanoparticle shape can preserve ligand activity of nanoconstructs extracellularly as well as dictate spatial organization intracellularly will have important implications for engineering designer nanoconstructs for nanomedicine.

Plenary Lecture III

Prof. Wilfred Chen

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Delaware University

USA

H-index: 86 (record from Google Scholar)

Research

• Cellular and Metabolic Engineering
• Synthetic Biology for Biofuel production
• Protein Therapeutics
• Viral Detection
• Drug Discovery
• Protein Purification

Background

The complex interactions between humans and the biosphere have created some of our most challenging global problems in human history such as energy sustainability, environmental pollutions, and emergence or re-emergence of old and new epidemics and diseases. Research in my laboratory is focused on development of the next generation biomolecular tools in addressing these key global problems in viral infection, disease pathogenesis, biofuel production, and separation of protein pharmaceutics.

Presentation

Adding Logic to Complex Protein Functions

Proteins are the most versatile among the various biological building blocks. However, the strength of proteins - their versatility and specific interactions - also complicates and hinders their systematic design and engineering. Our lab has been interested in exploiting the modular nature of protein domains to design synthetic complexes that can perform new biological functions. By adding logical components into the design, protein complexes that are dynamic rather than static in nature can be created to adapt to the constantly changing cellular environments. In this presentation, I will outline several successful examples in connecting exchangeable protein domains for predicative engineering applications in (1) energy substantiality and (2) human health.

Plenary Lecture IV

Prof. Dr. Uwe Bornscheuer

Institute of Biochemistry, Greifswald University

Germany

H-index: 98 (record from Google Scholar)

Research

• Biocatalysis
• Protein Engineering
• Enzymes in Organic Synthesis
• Enzymes in Lipid Modification
• High-throughput Screening

Background

• Study of Chemistry (1985-1990), PhD at the University of Hannover (1991-1993)
• Postdoc in Nagoya, Japan (1993-1994)
• Habilitation at the University of Stuttgart (1994-1998)
• Since 1999 Professor at the University of Greifswald
• 550 publications in peer-reviewed journals
• Several awards, including “Enzyme Engineering Award 2022”

Presentation

Discovery, Engineering and Application of Enzymes in Organic Synthesis, Marine Polysaccharide Conversion and Plastic Recycling

This lecture will cover recent achievements in the discovery, protein engineering and application of enzymes in biocatalysis.

Examples include the asymmetric synthesis of chiral amines for which we have developed a sophisticated growth selection method and could create highly active and selective enzymes from three classes to make important chiral precursors for pharmaceutical building blocks. In addition, we have engineered a P450 enzyme for the highly selective formation of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) from lithocholic acid.

For the conversion of complex polysaccharides from marine algae, we have discovered a new class of P450 monooxygenases from marine bacteria, which play a central role in the demethylation of porphyran. Furthermore, we identified the entire degradation pathway of the complex algal carbohydrate ulvan involving >13 different enzymes from marine bacteria.

For the recycling of PET, we have improved different esterases and also recently established a protocol enabling a fair comparison PETases reported in literature. Most recently, we have identified the first urethanases in a metagenomic library able to degrade polyurethanes and designed an enzyme cascade to degrade poly(vinylalcohols).

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