[Seminar] Excerpting Advances from Quorum Sensing to Communicate with Electronics

Título: Excerpting Advances from Quorum Sensing to Communicate with Electronics

Speaker: William E. Bentley, Ph.D.

Fischell Department of Bioengineering, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research, Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Bio sketch

William E. Bentley is the Robert E. Fischell Distinguished Chair of Engineering and the Inaugural Director of the Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices. He is also appointed to the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park and the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research. At Maryland since 1989, Dr. Bentley has focused his research on the development of molecular tools that facilitate the expression of biologically active proteins, having authored over 300 related archival publications.

He is a fellow of AAAS, ACS, AIMBE, and the American Academy of Microbiology. He has served on advisory committees for the NIH, NSF, DOD, DOE, FDA, USDA, and several state agencies and has mentored over 40 PhDs and 25 postdocs, many now in leadership roles within industry (24), federal agencies (5) and academia (26). He co-founded a protein manufacturing company, Chesapeake PERL, based on insect larvae as mini bioreactors.

Abstract

We are developing tools of “biofabrication” that enable facile assembly of biological components within devices, including microelectronic devices, that preserve their native biological function. By recognizing that biological redox active molecules are a biological equivalent of an electron-carrying wire, we have developed biological surrogates for electronic devices, including a biological redox capacitor that enable bi-directional “electron” flow. We have also turned to synthetic biology to provide a means to sample, interpret and report on biological information contained in molecular communications circuitry. To do this, we have participated in the discovery of bacterial quorum sensing and have “rewired” its regulatory components so as to enable eavesdropping on bacterial crosstalk. Finally, we have developed synthetic genetic circuits that enable electronic actuation of gene expression. That is, using simple reconstructions, one can apply voltage on an electrode and directly actuate genetic responses and associated phenotypes. This presentation will introduce the concepts of molecular communication that are enabled by integrating relatively simple concepts in synthetic biology with biofabrication. Our presentation will show how engineered cells represent a versatile means for mediating the molecular “signatures” commonly found in complex environments, or in other words, they are conveyors of molecular communication.