BME Seminar: "Designing Cell Factories for the Future of Biopharma: -Eric Young, PhD WPI Chemical Engineering

"Designing Cell Factories for the Future of Biopharma" -Eric Young, PhD, WPI Chemical Engineering

ABSTRACT: 

Cell factories are central to many industrial processes, including the pharmaceutical industry. Bacteria, fungi, and mammalian cell lines are often the best choice to produce medicines. Recently, advances in synthetic biology have enabled engineers to redesign and reprogram cells on an unprecedented scale. We use these advances to design “platform hosts” that have unique metabolism and physiology that could enable better cell factories and devices. We specialize in genomics, genetic engineering, computational workflows, standardization, and automation. Along the way, we gain insight into the fundamental biology of the cells we work with. In this talk, I will describe how we have developed an accurate genome sequencing method that is the foundation for an “-omics to parts” workflow for potential platform yeasts. We apply this workflow to the red yeast Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous, a potential terpenoid cell factory, and Debaryomyces hansenii, a potential cell factory that functions in saltwater. While our workflow yields standardized, modular, functional genetic parts, enabling future genetic engineering, we also show that it provides insight into fungal photobiology and osmotolerance. I will also discuss our recent work focused on developing genetic tools for cellulose producing bacteria. These advances in cell factory development highlight the utility of a synthetic biology approach to harnessing the potential of platform cell types. 

BIOGRAPHY: 

Eric Young received undergraduate degrees in Chemical Engineering and Biological Engineering from the University of Maine at Orono. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. He completed postdoctoral research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Young is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, with affiliate appointments in Biomedical Engineering and Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. His research objective is to understand and engineer microbes that improve the human condition. This research program informs his educational goal - to train the current and future workforce for an economy shaped by engineered biology. In recognition and support of these efforts, Dr. Young received a 2019 NSF CAREER award and a 2019 Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Building Breakthroughs award. 

For a zoom link, please email jnorton@wpi.edu or kharrison@wpi.edu