Abstract
Peptides are functional modules of protein macromolecules that can be displayed apart from the whole protein to create biofunctional surfaces and interfaces, or can be re-assembled in new ways to create synthetic mimics of protein structures. Each of these routes are being employed to gain new insight into protein folding and to develop new, functional, biomolecular materials. Examples of work from the speaker's laboratory in this area using peptide-lipid conjugate molecules (peptide amphiphiles) will be discussed relating to multi-functional surfaces, DNA-binding peptide assemblies, and protein analogous micelles for cancer and cardiovascular therapeutics.
About the speaker
Prof Matthew Tirrell received his PhD in Polymer Science from the University of Massachusetts in 1977. From 1977 to 1999, he was faculty at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials at the University of Minnesota, where he served as department head from 1995 to 1999. From 1999 to 2009, he was Dean of Engineering and Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials at the University of California at Santa Barbara. In 2009, he became the Arnold and Barbara Silverman Professor and Chair of Bioengineering at the University of California at Berkeley, with additional appointments in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering, and as a faculty scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He joined the University of Chicago in 2011, and is currently the founding Pritzker Director of the Institute for Molecular Engineering. He is also a senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory.
Prof Tirrell’s research specializes in polymer surface properties, adsorption, adhesion, surface treatment, friction, lubrication, biocompatibility and self-assembly. He has co-authored approximately 300 papers and one book during his career. He has supervised approximately 80 PhD students and 40 postdocs.
Prof Tirrell is a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Indian National Academy of Engineering. He has been a Sloan and a Guggenheim Fellow, a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, and a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Physical Society. From the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Prof Tirrell has received the Allan P. Colburn Award, the Charles Stine Award, the William H. Walker Award, and the Professional Progress Awards. He was the Institute Lecturer in 2001. Additionally, he has served as a Member of the Boards of Directors of the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital System and of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.
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