The Gaden Lecture at Columbia University
10/30/2007
The Gaden Lecture
at Columbia University
An annual examination of the changing interface between chemical engineering, cognate sciences, and society.
The Inaugural Lecture:
“Discovery of Therapeutic Antibodies and Enzymes"
GEORGE GEORGIOU
Departments of Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Institute for
Cell and Molecular Biology
University of Texas, Austin
One of the long-term interests of our group is the engineering of proteins for pharmaceutical and biotechnology applications. To this end, we have developed a set of ultra-high throughput screening techniques that enable the isolation of novel proteins with desired functions from ensembles (“libraries”) of hundreds of millions of protein variants, created by molecular biology techniques. These studies have led to the engineering of therapeutic antibodies that neutralize bacterial pathogens and of enzymes that exhibit exquisite catalytic activity. The biochemical characterization of the resulting engineered proteins has provided a wealth of mechanistic information that has aided the understanding of molecular recognition and biocatalysis. Specific examples will be discussed as part of this talk: a) The development, and therapeutic evaluation, of recombinant antibodies. b) The engineering of proteases that exhibit exceptional activity and selectivity towards the cleavage of desired peptide targets. c) “Humanized” nonimmunogenic enzymes for therapeutic purposes.
October 30, 2007 at 4:00 PM, Davis Auditorium, Center for Engineering and Physical Science Research (CEPSR)
Elmer L Gaden, Jr. often called "The Father of Biochemical Engineering" graduated from Columbia (PhD '49), was a member and often chair of chemical engineering, 1950-74, was first editor of Biotechnology and Bioengineering (1959-74), and retired as Willis Johnson professor from the University of Virginia in 1994. He is a noted military historian who taught the subject at Columbia and is, as well, an avid naturalist.