BME Seminar Series (ZOOM): Anand Subramaniam, UC Merced

Scalable fabrication of synthetic cells using paper

Abstract: Recent innovations in bottom-up synthetic biology, the engineering of artificial tissues and the delivery of drugs opens new avenues for the use of synthetic cell-like vesicles composed of phospholipid molecules in biomimetic applications. Despite their importance, a physical understanding of the mechanism of assembly has been lacking. In this seminar, I will present our latest work on understanding the process of assembly. We discover distinct pathways — with implications on both size and yields — that depend on the geometry of the surface, surface charge, surface concentration and solution ionic strength. With this new understanding, we develop scalable approaches for the fabrication of vesicles that express proteins from genes, encapsulate a cytoskeleton and keep chronological time. When nanocellulose paper is used as the substrate, costs can be as much as 100,000 × lower than current approaches, thus providing a straightforward route to scale up.

Bio: Anand Bala Subramaniam is an assistant professor in bioengineering at the University of California, Merced. He received his doctorate in applied physics from Harvard University and engaged in postdoctoral training in the Department of Chemistry at Harvard University. His lab’s current focus is to understand how cell-like compartments self-assemble from purified lipids and proteins for use as containers for synthetic cells and as vehicles for the delivery of drugs. His work has been recognized by an NSF CAREER award, a Hellmann Fellowship and a Distinguished Early Career Research award from UC Merced.