Seminars

How to produce protein payloads in specific cells under specific conditions? Despite substantial progress, current methods remain inadequate given the diverse cell types and conditions in living organisms. We're dedicated to innovating biomolecular tools for such precision regulations, to empower basic research (e.g., dissecting neural circuits) and therapeutics (e.g., ablating cancer). In contrast to the predominance of DNA-level (e.g., transcriptional) regulations, we focus on regulations compatible with RNA delivery that is safer than conventional DNA vectors. We also prioritize compact and robust designs, especially suitable for “emerging model organisms” and human patients. In a series of protease engineering works, we achieved a protein-level platform for building signal-processing pathways in a plug-and-play manner and modulating intercellular communications. In parallel, RNA-editing-based regulation offers unique advantages such as programmability, so we developed sister sensors that respond to specific transcripts as cell state markers and specific ligands that reflect the cells’ surrounding microenvironments. Finally, we routinely source building blocks from a broad variety of organisms, most of which are potentially immunogenic. Specifically for human health aspirations, we are “rebooting” biomolecular regulations by exclusively using human components, assisted by state-of-the-art machine learning tools. In the seminar I will share our progress on these technical fronts and the unique applications we envision.

Dr. Xiaojing Gao is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering from Stanford University. He received a B.S. in Biology from Peking University and a Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford University. He received his postdoctoral training from Biology and Biological Engineering at Caltech. Some of his recent recognitions include NIH’s New Innovator Award (DP2) and BMES CMBE’s Rising Star Award.

*Refreshments will be provided plus a chance to talk with the speaker after their seminar till about 5pm.