BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.2//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:0-5359@eng.ufl.edu DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220927T091500 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220927T101500 DTSTAMP:20251201T182344Z URL:https://www.eng.ufl.edu/news-events/events/che-seminar-optogenetics-an d-organelle-engineering-for-dynamical-and-spatial-control-in-metabolic-eng ineering/ SUMMARY:ChE Seminar: Optogenetics and organelle engineering for dynamical a nd spatial control in metabolic engineering DESCRIPTION:José L. Avalos\, Ph.D.\nAssociate Professor of Chemical and Bi ological Engineering\nand the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environm ent\nPrinceton University\nTitle: Optogenetics and organelle engineering f or dynamical and spatial control in metabolic engineering\nAbstract: Metab olic engineering aims to rewire cellular metabolisms to produce fuels\, ch emicals\, pharmaceuticals\, and other valuable products from renewable res ources. However\, it is often challenging to achieve the titers\, yields\, and productivities required for commercial viability. Temporal and spatia l control of engineered metabolic pathways can greatly improve their effic iency to help address this challenge. We have developed a new strategy to dynamically control metabolic pathways using optogenetics. There are many advantages of using light to control metabolic pathways\, including its or thogonality\, tunability\, reversibility\, and the ease with which it can be applied or removed instantly in any schedule to continuously manipulate metabolism throughout fermentations. I will present several optogenetic c ircuits we have built to control microbial growth and production with ligh t\, the impact they have on chemical production\, and the strategies we ha ve developed to overcome the limited light penetration of fermentations op erating at high cell densities in lab scale bioreactors. In addition\, I w ill present the new strategies we have developed to enhance the flux and s pecificity of metabolic pathways by spatially compartmentalizing them in y east mitochondria as well as synthetic organelles. This helps increase the local concentrations of enzymes and intermediate metabolites\, prevent me tabolic bottlenecks\, and reduce metabolite loss to competing pathways. Fi nally\, I will provide a perspective on how these technologies may come to gether to prescribe a new paradigm for dynamical and spatial control in me tabolic engineering to improve microbial chemical production.\nBio: José Avalos earned a B.E. in chemical engineering from Universidad Iberoamerica na in Mexico City and an MSc in biochemical research from Imperial College in London. He then received a Ph.D. in biochemistry and biophysics from J ohns Hopkins University. He conducted postdoctoral research at The Rockefe ller University on molecular neuroscience\, and then at MIT/Whitehead Inst itute\, in the Department of Chemical Engineering on metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. He has been a faculty member at Princeton Universi ty since 2015\, where he leads a research group focused on the use of biot echnology to address challenges in renewable energy\, sustainable manufact uring\, the environment\, and human health. He has received several awards \, including the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fellowship\, the NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award\, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundat ion Research Fellowship Award\, the Pew scholarship\, the NSF CAREER Award \, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award\, the HHMI Gilliam award\, an d the ACS BIOT Young Investigator Award.\nThis is a Virtual Event – Plea se join us on Zoom at https://ufl.zoom.us/s/93516437663 CATEGORIES:Seminars LOCATION:https://ufl.zoom.us/s/93516437663 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20220313T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR