Event/Seminars

John W. Peters received his PhD from Virginia Tech in 1995 and was an NIH Ruth Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellowship recipient at Caltech. He is currently Presidential Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Oklahoma. His research predominantly focuses on biological electron transfer as it relates to energy and human health, and he has published more than 200 research articles. He is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Microbiology and a recipient of the Cozzarelli Prize from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the Horizon Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Chemistry Seminar - Thursday, September 11 @ 3:30pm (ESSC 255)

Biology Seminar - Friday, September 12 @ 3pm (ESSC 255)

"The Parameters that Define Flavin-Based Electron Bifurcation"

Seminar Abstracts

Head, Department of Biological Engineering

Research and Bio

Genetic engineering is undergoing a revolution, where next-generation technologies for DNA and host manipulation are enabling larger and more ambitious projects in biotechnology. Automated DNA synthesis has advanced to where it is routine to order sequences >100,000bp where every base is user-specified, the turnaround time is several weeks, and the cost is rapidly declining. Recently, this facilitated the synthesis of a complete 1 Mbp genome of a bacterium and its transfer into a new host, resulting in a living cell. However, while whole genomes can be constructed, the ability to design such systems is lagging. The focus of my lab is to develop new experimental and theoretical methods to push the scale of genetic engineering, with the ultimate objective of genome design. This will impact the engineering of biology for a broad range of applications, including agriculture, materials, chemicals, and medicine.

Prof. Voigt obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics at the California Institute of Technology. He continued his postdoctoral research in Bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley. His academic career commenced as an Assistant and Associate Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California-San Francisco. Chris Voigt joined the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT as Associate Professor in 2011.

"Synthetic Biology in Manufacturing, Health and Agriculture" - Thursday, October 23, 4:45pm, ESSC 255

BioFrontiers Seminar Series: Friday, October 24, 3pm, ESSC 255