报告题目：Nanomedicine and Genome Editing Approaches for Disease Therapies

报告时间和地点：5月31日上午10:00，G楼118会议室

报告内容：The integration of biomolecular engineering, nanotechnology and biology is expected to produce major breakthroughs in medical diagnostics and therapeutics. Due to the size-compatibility of nano-scale structures with proteins and nucleic acids, the design, synthesis and application of nanoprobes, nanocarriers and nanomachines provide unprecedented opportunities for achieving a better control of biological processes, and drastic improvements in disease detection, therapy, and prevention. Recent advances include the development of multi-functional nanoparticles, nano-structured materials and devices, and engineered nucleases for biological and medical applications.

In this talk I will first present the recent development and application of magnetic nanoparticles in my lab, including heat generation by magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for hyperthermia and nanowarming, nanoparticle-based stem cell targeting. I will then discuss the design and optimization of CRISPR/Cas9 systems for treating sickle cell disease. The opportunities and challenges in genome editing based treatment of hemoglobinopathies are discussed.

报告人照片：

报告人简介：Dr. Gang Bao is the Foyt Family Chair Professor in the Department of Bioengineering, Rice University. He is a CPRIT Senior Scholar and the Director of Nanomedicine Center for Nucleoprotein Machines at Rice. Dr. Bao received his undergraduate and Master’s degrees from Shandong University in China, and his PhD from Lehigh University in the US. Dr. Bao is a Fellow of the American Association of Advancement in Science (AAAS), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), American Physical Society (APS), American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES).

Dr. Bao’s current research is focused on the development of nanotechnology and biomolecular engineering tools for biological and disease studies, including multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles, protein tagging/targeting methods, and engineered nucleases such as CRISPR/Cas9. These approaches have been applied to the diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases such as cancer, and the development of genome editing approaches for treating single-gene disorders.