Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Institute for Systems Biology

Wednesday, March 13, 2019
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Whitaker Building, 3115

Videoconference:
Emory: Health and Sciences Research Building, E160
Georgia Tech: TEP, stream from your PC (no conf. room)
https://bluejeans.com/809850842

“Pliable Bio: Nanointerfaces to Read and Write Biological Networks”

ABSTRACT

Biology is animated by networks of proteins, transcripts, and more, but the arrangements of this network that give each single cell a distinct identity and function are a mystery. Bulk methods are oblivious to this level of detail, so the development of new tools to control biology at the level of single cells is critical to addressing cell heterogeneity in biology, especially in complex diseases like cancer. I will be presenting techniques that operate at the subcellular- and nano-scale to perform operations – measurements and manipulations – within single cells. First, I will describe how a field of vertical nanowires can be used to provide long term, actuatable interfaces to directly access and manipulate the cell interior. Second, I will introduce a device capable of parsing and measuring multiple streams of information – proteomics and transcriptomics – from within the same single cells. I will close by describing the synergy between subcellular measurement and manipulation for the future of single cell analysis.

BIOGRAPHY

Alex Xu is an F32 Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. James Heath at the Institute of Systems Biology, moved recently from Caltech. He obtained his Materials Science PhD in 2015 from Stanford. His prior research spanned nanotechnology, microfabrication, bioengineering, and single cell analysis, and his current interests include bioinformatics, immunology, cancer biology, and cobbling his meandering research history together into new methods for single cell analysis. He enjoys playing the viola in community orchestras, sports, and crossword puzzles.

Host:  James Dahlman