BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN
TZID:America/New_York
X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:0-8325@eng.ufl.edu
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260421T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260421T100000
DTSTAMP:20260306T193255Z
URL:https://www.eng.ufl.edu/news-events/events/che-2026-spring-seminar-ser
 ies-hal-alper-phd/
SUMMARY:ChE 2026 Spring Seminar Series - Hal Alper\, PhD
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Hal Alper\, PhD\nChair\nDepartment of Chemical Enginee
 ring \nUniversity of Texas at Austin \n\nTalk Tile: Beyond the test-tube: 
 metabolic engineering for next-generation applications\n\nAbstract:\nAdvan
 ces in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology can enable microbes to 
 produce nearly any organic molecule of interest—from biofuels to biopoly
 mers to pharmaceuticals. While this approach has fueled the industrial bio
 technology\, new challenges arise for microbe engineering when considering
  non-conventional settings. This talk will highlight several unique applic
 ation areas for metabolic engineering. First\, the use of engineered biolo
 gy for the degradation of waste products (including plastics and other hyd
 rophobic substrates) will be discussed considering the unique challenges r
 equired to consume these non-carbohydrate substrates. Second\, the use of 
 a printable hydrogel system for encapsulating cells will be discussed as a
  means for both portable cultivation of engineered microbial systems as we
 ll as for responsive theranostics. Third\, the engineering of microbial fa
 ctories for space environments will be discussed. Robust “space-ready”
  organisms require an understanding of how cells respond to the unique cha
 llenges and stressors of space including microgravity\, radiation\, and de
 siccation. Together\, these efforts demonstrate how to deploy metabolicall
 y engineered cells outside of traditional sugar-based bioreactor settings.
  \n\nBiosketch:\nDr. Hal Alper is the Cockrell Family Regents Chair in Eng
 ineering #1 at The University of Texas at Austin.  He earned his Ph.D. in 
 Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 200
 6 and was a postdoctoral research associate at the Whitehead Institute for
  Biomedical Research from 2006-2008\, and at Shire Human Genetic Therapies
  from 2007-2008.  He is currently the Principal Investigator of the Labora
 tory for Cellular and Metabolic Engineering at The University of Texas at 
 Austin where his lab focuses on metabolic and cellular engineering in the 
 context of biofuel\, biochemical\, and biopharmaceutical production in an 
 array of model host organisms.  His research focuses on applying and exten
 ding the approaches of synthetic biology\, systems biology\, and protein e
 ngineering.  Dr. Alper has published over 180 articles and 10 book chapter
 s.  Dr. Alper is the recipient of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Facult
 y Award (2008)\, Texas Exes Teaching Award (2009)\, DuPont Young Investiga
 tor Award (2010)\, Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award (2011
 )\, UT Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award (2012)\, Biotechnology and Bi
 oengineering Daniel I.C. Wang Award (2013)\, Jay Bailey Young Investigator
  Award (2014)\, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2014)\, Society for
  Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology Young Investigator Award (2015)
 \, ACS BIOT Young Investigator Award (2016)\, UT-Austin Emerging Inventor 
 of the Year Award (2016) and AIChE Allan P. Colburn Award (2018)\, Biochem
 ical Engineering Journal Young Investigator Award (2019)\, and Edith and P
 eter O'Donnell Award in Engineering (2019)\, AIChE Andreas Acrivos Award f
 or Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering (2023)\, and Internationa
 l Metabolic Engineering Award (2025). He was elected as a Fellow to the Am
 erican Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2018\, the Nati
 onal Academy of Inventors in 2019\, and the American Association for the A
 dvancement of Science in 2024. 
CATEGORIES:Seminars
LOCATION:NEB 202\, 1064 CENTER DR GAINESVILLE\, FL 32611 Bldg #: 0033\, Gai
 nesville\, Florida\, 32611\, United States
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=1064 CENTER DR GAINESVILLE\
 , FL 32611 Bldg #: 0033\, Gainesville\, Florida\, 32611\, United States;X-
 APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=NEB 202:geo:0,0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
DTSTART:20260308T030000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
END:DAYLIGHT
END:VTIMEZONE
END:VCALENDAR