Title: Engineering Complex Protein Function

Bio

Ben Hackel is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota. He earned degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin (B.S., advised by Eric Shusta) and MIT (Ph.D., advised by Dane Wittrup) and performed postdoctoral research in the radiology department at Stanford University (Sam Gambhir). The Hackel Lab balances fundamental study of molecular evolution and protein biophysics, advancement of protein engineering platforms, and application of these advances to develop physiological molecular targeting agents for therapy and diagnostics in oncology, inflammation, and infectious disease.

Abstract

Molecularly targeted ligands empower precision medicine. Effective ligands require precise binding, efficient physiological delivery, and biophysical robustness. We have shown that synthetic miniproteins, computationally designed for structural integrity, can be evolved as scaffolds for ligand discovery. We leverage the data of differential performance across designs to gain fundamental insights on protein evolution and develop stronger scaffolds. Moreover, we advance lead molecules as molecular therapeutics.