Title : Genetically Engineering BioNanostructures to Develop NanoBiotechnology and Nanomedicine

Speaker: Chuanbin Mao

Host: Prof. Min Qian

When: 2012-12-25  10:00

Where: Conference Room 534, School of Life Sciences

Abstract：

Nature is rich in bionanostructures that can be used to develop nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine. Three of natural bionanostructures related to bacteria have been studied in my lab, including phage, which is a nanofiber-like virus specifically infecting bacteria, as well as flagella and pili, which are protein nanotubes protruding from the exterior surface of the bacteria and responsible for cell swimming and adhesion. All of these bionanostructures can be genetically engineered to display foreign peptides site-specifically on the surface, enabling us to tune their surface chemistries to control their self-assembly behavior, recognition against cells and tissues, and interaction with biomaterials. This talk will highlight our recent work in this area and focus on the use of these bionanostructures for nano/bio-materials synthesis/assembly, cancer and stem cell targeting, tumor tissue homing, cancer imaging and treatment, stem cell-based therapy, drug/gene delivery, and tissue regeneration. Our work shows that genetically modifiable bionanostructures are unique players in developing novel nano-/bio-materials and nanomedicines.