Seminar - Danielle Tullman-Ercek

Danielle Tullman-Ercek

Associate Professor
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Northwestern University

Engineering Multi-Protein Superstructures for Applications in Biomaterials, Bioenergy, and Biotechnology

Abstract:

The phospholipid bilayer has long been described as the cellular gatekeeper, placing bounds on the passive transport of proteins, small molecules, and even ions into and out of organelles. In the 1990’s, it was discovered that some bacteria use compartmental systems as well, contrary to the long-held belief that bacteria lack such organization, and these bacterial “organelle” membranes are made entirely of proteins. The Tullman-Ercek lab explores the gatekeeping functions of each of these distinct types of membranes, studying protein and small molecule transport and sequestration in each case. Using various synthetic biology approaches, we then engineer the protein-based parts of these systems in order to 1) sequester metabolic pathway enzymes and intermediates in the compartments and 2) gain control and alter the specificity of lipid membrane transporters for small molecules and proteins. In this talk, I will discuss our recent progress with respect to enzyme compartmentalization and protein secretion, and provide examples of direct applications in the production of biochemicals, biomaterials, and biologic drugs.

Bio:

Danielle Tullman-Ercek is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University. Danielle received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.  She carried out postdoctoral research at UCSF and the Joint Bioenergy Institute, while part of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In 2009, she joined the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering faculty at the University of California Berkeley, where she held the Charles Wilke Endowed Chair of Chemical Engineering and later the Merck Chair of Biochemical Engineering. In 2016, she moved her lab to Northwestern University, where she is also a Searle Scholar. Her research focuses on building biomolecular devices for applications in bioenergy, living batteries, and drug delivery, and she is particularly interested in engineering multi-protein complexes, such as the machines that transport proteins and small molecules across cellular membranes. She is a member of the Engineering Biology Research Center (formerly the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center), the recently launched NU Center for Synthetic Biology, and was awarded an NSF CAREER award for her work on the construction of bacterial organelles using protein membranes.