"Engineered Proteins for Visualizing and Treating Disease"

Jennifer Cochran, PhD
Associate Professor of Bioengineering
Stanford University

The Cochran lab uses rational and combinatorial methods to engineer protein and peptide ligands with improved biophysical and biological properties. Applications of these engineered proteins in biomedical applications will be discussed. As examples, recent results will be presented on engineered peptides that have been used to target and image brain tumors, and an engineered protein with femtomolar target binding affinity that exhibits a remarkable ability to treat tumor metastasis in several aggressive cancer models.

Jennifer Cochran is an associate professor of bioengineering, and has a secondary appointment in chemical engineering. Her research group uses interdisciplinary approaches in chemistry, engineering, and biophysics to study complex biological systems and develop new technologies for basic science and biomedical applications. Professor Cochran's research is driven by the philosophy that in order to effectively control physiological processes it is necessary to understand the molecular mechanisms that drive these processes. Her group is interested in elucidating molecular details of receptor-mediated cell signaling events; at the same time developing protein and peptide-based tools that will allow manipulation of cellular processes on a molecular level. For biomedical applications, rational design and combinatorial methods are used to create designer protein therapeutics and diagnostic agents for applications such as regenerative medicine and cancer imaging and therapy.

Faculty host: Julie Champion