Public Lecture

"Biocatalysts for abiological chemistry: Evolution brings new chemistry to life"

Frances H. Arnold
Dick and Barbara Dickinson Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry
California Institute of Technology

Breakfast

Opening remarks

Susan Martinis
Interim Vice Chancellor for Research
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Huimin Zhao
Steven L. Miller Chair, Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Session 1 talks: Spiegelman’s major scientific contributions
Susan Martinis, Chair

Richard Axel
"Sol Spiegelman: From Molecules to Mind"
Nobel Laureate
University Professor, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, of Neuroscience, and of Pathology
Columbia University

Gerald Joyce
"Reconstructing RNA-based Life: RNA-Catalyzed Polymerization and Replication of RNA"
Professor
Jack H. Skirball Center for Chemical Biology and Proteomics
Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Leroy Hood
"Systems Medicine, Big Data and Scientific Wellness:  Transforming Healthcare—A Personal View"
President and Co-founder
Institute for Systems Biology

Session 2 talks: In vitro protein evolution
Rachel Whitaker, Chair

David Liu
"Protein Evolution and Engineering to Enable Biotechnology, Genome Editing, and Novel Therapeutics"
Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Harvard University

Susan Martinis
"Re-purposing of Ancient Protein Synthesis Enzymes and RNAs for Cell Signaling"
Department of Biochemistry, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Interim Director, Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Carle Illinois College of Medicine
Interim Vice Chancellor for Research
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Session 3 talks: In vitro nucleic acid evolution
 Yi Lu, Chair

Jack Szostak
"The Origin of Cellular Life"
Nobel Laureate
Professor of Genetics, and of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Harvard Medical School

Larry Gold
"From Sol Spiegelman to modern SELEX (with help from Harold B. White III)"
Chairman and Founder, SomaLogic
Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
University of Colorado Boulder

Joan Steitz
"Noncoding RNAs of Viral and Cellular Origin: Insights into Evolution"
Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry
Yale School of Medicine

Session 4 talks: Design and evolution at the genome and microbial community scale
Olgica Milenkovic, Chair

Huimin Zhao
"Genome-scale Engineering: A New Frontier in Synthetic Biology"
Steven L. Miller Chair, Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Biosystems Design Research Theme Leader, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Feng Zhang
"Harnessing CRISPR-Cas Systems for Diverse Biological Applications"
James and Patricia Poitras Professor in Neuroscience
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Rachel Whitaker
"CRISPR-Cas Mediated Host-Virus Co-evolution"
Associate Professor of Microbiology
Infection Genomics for One Health Research Theme Leader, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Breakfast

Session 5 talks: DNA/RNA technology
Christopher Rao, Chair

Clyde Hutchison
"Design, Construction, and Analysis of a Minimal Bacterial Cell"
Distinguished Investigator, The J. Craig Venter Institute
Professor Emeritus of Microbiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Yi Lu
"Functional DNA Nanotechnology and Its Applications in Environmental Monitoring, Food Safety, Medical Diagnostics and Imaging of Small Molecular Targets and Biomarkers"
Jay and Ann Schenck Professor of Chemistry
Faculty Affiliate, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Olgica Milenkovic
"Portable and Random-Access DNA-Based Storage Systems"
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Faculty Affiliate, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Session 6 talks: The future
Christopher Rao, Chair

Pamela Silver
"Design at the Interface of Biology and Chemistry"
Elliot T. and Onie H. Adams Professor of Biochemistry and Systems Biology
Harvard Medical School

Closing Remarks

Huimin Zhao
Steven L. Miller Chair, Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Biosystems Design Research Theme Leader, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign