Purdue University
School of Chemical Engineering
MELLICHAMP LECTURE
Prof. Brian Pfleger
College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin
"Sustainability via Synthetic Biology -
A Growing Role for Biotechnology in the Chemical Industry"
Thursday, October 3, 2013
9:00-10:15 a.m.
FRNY G140
Reception at 8:30 a.m. in Henson Atrium
Abstract: Finding a sustainable alternative for today's petrochemical industry is a major challenge facing chemical engineers and society at large. To be sustainable, routes for converting carbon dioxide and light into organic compounds for use as both fuels and chemical building blocks must be identified, understood, and engineered. Advances in synthetic biology and other biological engineering disciplines have expanded the scope of what can be produced by a living organism. As in other engineering disciplines, synthetic biologists want to apply a general understanding of math and science (e.g. biology, biochemistry) to construct complex systems from well-characterized parts (e.g. DNA, protein).
Bio: Brian received his bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University in 2000 and earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering in 2005 from the University of California-Berkeley under the supervision of Jay Keasling. Brian's thesis research focused on developing methods of controlling gene expression in bacteria that could be applied to enhancing the biosynthesis of pharmaceuticals. After graduating, he accepted a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of David Sherman at the University of Michigan, where he studied how six Bacillus anthracis enzymes assemble a natural product essential for iron acquisition and pathogenesis. Brian is currently an Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering with appointments in Biomedical Engineering, the Microbiology Doctoral Training Program, and the graduate program in Cell and Molecular Biology. Brian's research has been recognized with young investigator awards from 3M, NSF (CAREER), DOE (Early Career), and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR-YIP). Brian also received the Benjamin Smith Reynolds teaching award from the UW-Madison College of Engineering for his efforts to introduce undergraduates to biotechnology.
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