February Meeting (Zoom) 02/09/2022

Repurposing Biomolecules with Unusual Functions to Image Deep Inside the Body

Answers to some of the most pressing biological questions--such as how cancer cells metastasize, neurons degenerate, and immune cells locate their targets--are buried deep inside the body, beyond the reach of conventional light-based imaging probes. Dr. Mukherjee's lab develops tissue-penetrating magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) agents that can be used to non-invasively image biological targets at any depth inside living, breathing animals. In this talk, he will highlight their latest efforts to develop such imaging tools by engineering biomolecules with unusual functions. Such functions include modulating water movement in and out of cells, converting antimicrobial immunity proteins into calcium biosensors, and co-opting radioprotective peptides for in vivo bacterial imaging.

Dr. Arnab Mukherjee is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at UCSB, where his lab started in the summer of 2018. Prior to arriving at UCSB, he completed a Boswell Fellowship in Molecular Engineering at Caltech and obtained his Ph.D. at UIUC. Research in the Mukherjee group has been recognized with notable recent awards including an Outstanding Young Investigator Award from the NIH, a Discovery Award from the DoD, the NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, and a Scialog Fellow award.