Title:
Synthetic Genomes and Genetic Codes for Virus Resistance, Biocontainment, and Therapy
Abstract:
From viruses to human cells, life’s most fundamental process — the translation of genetic information into proteins — relies on an ancient and remarkably conserved language: the genetic code. This universal language orchestrates the precise interactions between messenger RNA, transfer RNAs (tRNAs), and the ribosome to convert nucleic acid-encoded instructions into proteins using just 20 standard amino acids. While evolution has generated an astounding biological diversity over billions of years, the genetic code remained near-perfectly conserved across all domains of life – until very recently.
In my talk, I will demonstrate how rational genome design and genetic code engineering have enabled us to generate organisms that achieve three key innovations: (i) broad resistance to natural viruses, (ii) prevention of genetic information flow between engineered organisms and natural species, and (iii) the capability to biosynthesize entirely new classes of genetically encoded polymers. Beyond enabling new therapeutics, biocatalysts, and biomaterials with properties unattainable with existing biology, these advances provide secure biosystems and foundational methods for engineering life beyond the constraints of natural biology.
Bio:
Dr. Akos Nyerges is currently an NIH/NIBIB K99-funded postdoctoral fellow in Prof. George Church’s lab at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on genome synthesis and genetic code engineering for virus resistance, biocontainment, and the production of genetically encoded unnatural polymers. Prior to Harvard, as a Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds Ph.D. Fellow, he developed tools for directed evolution and genome engineering and utilized these tools for rational antibiotic design and biomolecular engineering. During his undergraduate research, Akos developed a broad-host-range genome editing technology that is now widely used for microbial genome engineering. His research has been recognized by numerous awards and honors: he was named a Distinguished Young Scholar by the University of Washington, Next Generation in Biomedicine by the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, he was a European Molecular Biology Organization Long-term fellow at Harvard, an EMBO Short-term fellow at ETH Zurich, and received the Junior Prima Prize – the highest honor awarded to Early Career Researchers in Hungary. Most recently, Akos received an NIH K99/R00 Award from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, with which he is working on the clinical translation of his recent discoveries.
Akos’s long-term goal is to merge genome and genetic code engineering with drug development to advance our understanding of the design principles of biological systems and enable therapeutic applications that are not attainable with existing cell-based therapies and biopolymers.
10:30am, Shaffer 3