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VERSION:2.0
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CATEGORIES:Seminar/Colloquia
DESCRIPTION:Presenting on “Talking to cells: biomolecular ultrasound to ima
 ge and control cells deep inside the body”.\n\nFrank C. P. and Grace C. Yin
  Distinguished Lecture: Mikhail G. Shapiro\, PhD\, Max Delbrück Professor o
 f Chemical Engineering and Medical Engineering at California Institute of T
 echnology\, will speak on Monday\, April 27\, 2026 at 1:00 pm central time 
 in Whitaker 100.\n\nAbstract: Studying biological function in intact organi
 sms and developing targeted cellular therapies requires methods to image an
 d control the function of specific cells deep inside the body. Fluorescent 
 proteins and optogenetics serve this purpose in small\, translucent specime
 ns\, but are limited by the poor penetration of light into deeper tissues. 
 In contrast\, most non-invasive techniques such as ultrasound and magnetic 
 resonance imaging – while based on energy forms that penetrate tissue – are
  not effectively coupled to cellular function. Our work attempts to bridge 
 this gap by engineering biomolecules with the appropriate physical properti
 es to interact with sound waves and magnetic fields. In this talk\, I will 
 describe our recent work on biomolecular reporters and actuators for ultras
 ound. The reporters are based on gas vesicles – a unique class of air-fille
 d protein nanostructures derived from buoyant photosynthetic microbes. Thes
 e proteins scatter sound waves\, enabling their detection with ultrasound. 
 I will describe our progress in understanding the biophysical and acoustic 
 properties of these biomolecules\, introducing them genetically into variou
 s cell types of interest for in vivo imaging\, and turning them into dynami
 c sensors of intracellular molecular signals. In addition to their applicat
 ions in imaging\, gas vesicles can be used to control cellular location and
  function by serving as receivers of acoustic radiation force or seeding lo
 calized bubble cavitation. Additional control is provided by thermal bioswi
 tches – biomolecules that provide switch-like control of gene expression in
  response to small changes in temperature.  I will describe how these funct
 ionalities allow the development of remote-controlled cell therapies and di
 agnostics.\n\nBio: Mikhail Shapiro is the Max Delbrück Professor of Chemica
 l Engineering and Medical Engineering\, an HHMI Investigator\, and Director
  of the Center for Molecular and Cellular Medicine at Caltech. The Shapiro 
 laboratory develops biomolecular technologies allowing cells to be imaged a
 nd controlled inside the body using noninvasive methods such as ultrasound.
  These technologies enable the study of biological function in vivo and the
  development of cell-based and gene-based diagnostic and therapeutic agents
 . Mikhail received his PhD in Biological Engineering from MIT and his BSc i
 n Neuroscience from Brown. He conducted post-doctoral research at the Unive
 rsity of Chicago and the University of California\, Berkeley\, where he was
  a Miller Fellow. Mikhail’s awards include the NIH Pioneer Award\, the Vilc
 ek Prize for Creative Promise\, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award\,
  the Carl Hellmuth Hertz Ultrasonics Award and the Fulbright-Tocqueville Di
 stinguished Chair. Mikhail is an inducted Fellow of the World Molecular Ima
 ging Society. Alongside academic research\, Mikhail has been involved as a 
 founder and adviser to several biotechnology and medical device startups. M
 ore information about the Shapiro Lab can be found online at shapirolab.cal
 tech.edu.
DTEND:20260427T190000Z
DTSTAMP:20260414T062321Z
DTSTART:20260427T180000Z
GEO:38.649125;-90.303135
LOCATION:Uncas A. Whitaker Hall\, 100
SEQUENCE:0
SUMMARY:Frank C. P. and Grace C. Yin Distinguished Lecture: Mikhail G. Shap
 iro
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_51781951254741
URL:https://happenings.washu.edu/event/frank-c-p-and-grace-c-yin-distinguis
 hed-lecture-mikhail-g-shapiro
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