{"610695":{"#nid":"610695","#data":{"type":"event","title":"CANCELED: Sustaining Life with Genes and Proteins Designed \u2018From Scratch\u2019","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETHIS SEMINAR WAS CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMichael Hecht, \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPh.D\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDepartment of Chemistry\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nPrinceton University\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EABSTRACT\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nA key goal of synthetic biology is to design novel proteins that fold and function \u003Cem\u003Ein vivo.\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/em\u003EA particularly challenging objective would be to produce non-natural proteins that don\u0026rsquo;t merely generate interesting phenotypes, but which actually provide essential functions necessary for the growth of living cells. Successful design of such life-sustaining proteins would represent a step toward constructing \u0026ldquo;artificial proteomes\u0026rdquo; of non-natural sequences. \u0026nbsp;In initial work toward this goal, we designed large libraries of novel proteins encoded by millions of synthetic genes.\u0026nbsp; Many of these new proteins fold into stable 3-dimensional structures; and many bind biologically relevant metals, metabolites, and cofactors. \u0026nbsp;Several of the novel proteins function \u003Cem\u003Ein vivo\u003C\/em\u003E providing essential activities necessary to sustain the growth of \u003Cem\u003EE. coli\u003C\/em\u003E cells. In some cases, these novel proteins rewire gene regulation and alter the expression of endogenous genes.\u0026nbsp; In other cases, the novel protein sustains cell growth by functioning as \u003Cem\u003Ebona fide\u003C\/em\u003E enzyme that catalyzes an essential biochemical reaction. These results suggest that (i) the molecular toolkit of life need not be limited to sequences that already exist in nature, and \u0026nbsp;(ii) artificial genomes and proteomes might be built from non-natural sequences.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/chemlabs.princeton.edu\/hecht\/\u0022\u003EAbout the Hecht Lab\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHost: Frank Rosenzweig\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A Biological Sciences Seminar by Michael Hecht, Ph.D."}],"uid":"27964","created_gmt":"2018-08-30 22:00:43","changed_gmt":"2018-11-15 20:32:52","author":"Jasmine Martin","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2018-11-16T10:55:00-05:00","event_time_end":"2018-11-16T10:55:00-05:00","event_time_end_last":"2018-11-16T10:55:00-05:00","gmt_time_start":"2018-11-16 15:55:00","gmt_time_end":"2018-11-16 15:55:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2018-11-16 15:55:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"166892","name":"School of Biological Sciences Seminar"},{"id":"178916","name":"Michael Hecht"},{"id":"123971","name":"Frank Rosenzweig"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1795","name":"Seminar\/Lecture\/Colloquium"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78761","name":"Faculty\/Staff"},{"id":"177814","name":"Postdoc"},{"id":"78771","name":"Public"},{"id":"174045","name":"Graduate students"},{"id":"78751","name":"Undergraduate students"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jasmine.martin@biosci.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJasmine Martin\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}