Postdoctoral Associate
Department of Synthetic Biology Center
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Monday, February 18, 2018
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Georgia Institute of Technology
McIntire Room UAW 3115

Videoconference
Emory: HSRB E160 / Georgia Tech: TEP 208
https://bluejeans.com/809850842  

ABSTRACT
Microbes that inhabit the human body are integral to human health and are implemented in many diseases, that range from inflammatory bowel disease, autism, metabolic syndrome, and cancer. Due to its high connectivity with human physiology, precise manipulation of the microbiota has therapeutic potential across multiple physiological axes. Here, I will discuss synthetic biology technologies that can be applied to engineer and better understand the microbiota, including genetic modification of commensal organisms, bacteriophage engineering, and micro-bio-electronic sensors to monitor gastrointestinal health. These efforts set the stage for fundamental mechanistic studies of host-microbe interaction, as well as translational efforts to advance cellular and viral microbiome therapies to the clinic.

BIOGRAPHY
Mark Mimee is a Postdoctoral Associate and Group Leader in the laboratory of Dr. Timothy Lu at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he develops fundamental bioengineering technologies to engineer the microbiome. He obtained his B.Sc. in Microbiology & Immunology at McGill University and completed his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Lu in the Microbiology Program at MIT, during which he was an HHMI International Student Fellow as well as a Qualcomm Innovation Fellow. His research focuses on developing synthetic biology strategies to manipulate the activity and composition of the host-associated microbial communities. His long-term vision is to implement these technologies to chart new basic and translational studies to exploit the microbiota for human health

Host: Kyle Allison