Engineering and Health Care
Dr. Robert Langer
Monday, May 16, 2011, 3pm EDT
Dr. Langer will discuss the involvement of engineering in health care, from the discovery of the first angiogenesis inhibitors to the development of controlled drug delivery systems and the foundation of tissue engineering.

Biological Synthesis of Fuels and Chemicals
Dr. James C. Liao, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
Thursday, July 22, 2010 2-3PM EDT
Professor Liao will present a metabolic engineering approach using various microorganisms to produce higher alcohols (C3-C8) from renewable carbon source. This strategy leverages the host s highly active amino acid biosynthetic pathway and diverts its 2-keto acid intermediates for alcohol synthesis.

Modular Biocatalysis 
Dr. Chaitan Khosla, Chair, Chemical Engineering; Wells H. Rauser and Harold M. Petiprin Professor in the School of Engineering; Professor of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, and Biochemistry, Stanford University
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 2-3PM EDT
Professor Khosla will detail his laboratory's work to understanding the modularity of a class of multifunctional enzymes called polyketide synthases (PKSs). PKSs catalyze the biosynthesis of a broad range of complex natural products in microorganisms, including many well-known and emerging antibiotics.

Breaking the Cell Wall Barrier for Difficult-to-Express Natural and Supernatural Products
Dr. James Swartz, James H. Clark Professor in the School of Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, Cancer Center, Stanford University
Thursday, May 27, 2010 2-3PM EDT
Professor Swartz will discuss the power and versatility of cell-free methods coupled with careful evaluation and engineering of these new systems to enable a whole new range of applications and scientific investigation specifically for the development of new vaccine candidates in the laboratory.

Body-On-A-Chip: A Tool for Predictive Pharmacology/Toxicology 
Michael L. Shuler, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University
March 31, 2009 at 2:00-3:00PM EDT
Professor Mike Shuler will detail his work to understand the response of the human body to various pharmaceutical and environmental chemicals using a combination of whole body modules and micro models.  Professor Shuler s research focuses on microfabricated devices combined with cell cultures.