MolES faculty receive NSF EAGER award to develop new SARS-CoV-2 antibody test

James Carothers and Jesse Zalatan
James Carothers, Dan Evans Career Development Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, and Jesse Zalatan, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, have been awarded a National Science Foundation EAGER grant to develop a new type of SARS-Cov-2 antibody test. Carothers and Zalatan will receive $300,000 over a one-year period from funds made available through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

COVID-19 Research at MolES

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, MolES faculty have pivoted their research to address the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. They are leveraging molecular engineering approaches and tools to develop improved diagnostics, targeted treatment strategies, and a better understanding of the virus. We highlight a few of these projects here.

Researchers identify rules for effectively regulating gene expression in bacteria

Jason Fontana, a molecular engineering Ph.D. student in the labs of chemical engineering professor James Carothers and chemistry professor Jesse Zalatan, has identified features of bacterial genes that impose strict requirements on CRISPR-Cas transcriptional activation tools. This work defines new strategies to effectively regulate gene expression in bacteria, bringing researchers closer to their goal of using bacteria to produce valuable biosynthetic products. Read this Q&A with Jesse Zalatan featured on the Science in Seattle blog.

MolES Faculty Honored with UW Innovation Awards

Two faculty members of the Molecular Engineering & Sciences Institute have received Innovation Awards, recently announced by the Office of the President.  The awards honor  mid-career researchers who are engaged in the medical, natural, social and engineering sciences.  They also recognize faculty who foster new creative ways to foster student learning and active engagement. Among the inaugural year recipients are two MolES faculty members, James Carothers and Eric Klavins.

James CarothersJames Carothers, assistant professor of chemical engineering, will create new approaches to produce renewable chemicals. Read More

James Carothers named Sloan Research Fellow

MolES Institute member and Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering James Carothers was named a 2013 Sloan Research Fellow in an announcement today by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Carothers’s research focuses on developing design platforms for engineering functionally-complex RNA-based control systems. These systems process cellular information and program the expression of very large numbers of genes, enabling both increased understanding of fundamental biological processes and applications to meet the demands for renewable chemicals and new therapies.

Three members of the UW faculty are among 126 recipients of 2013 Sloan Research Fellowships.  Read More