Community and Events
SEMINAR SERIES
We are excited to announce this year’s seminar series.
Seminars will be Wednesdays, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., in Hill Hall, Room 209. Open to the Oredigger campus community, undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff. No pre-registration required. If you have any questions, contact QBE Professor Kevin Cash.
Next seminar: Wednesday September 4th, 2024
Welcome Dr. Natalie Lamb!
Secure biosystems kill switch design in Saccharomyces cerevisiae informs effective biocontainment strategies and mechanisms of escape
The sustainable bioeconomy is dependent on the development of new technologies, which include genetically modified microorganisms (GMMs) for bioproduct and biofuel production. The growth of GMMs at scale raises concerns about escape from laboratory or industrial conditions and the subsequent impact on surrounding natural environments. This concern has led the NIH to release standards for the development of genetically modified microbes requiring that escape rates are below a limit of 10-8. Establishing secure biosystems designs is thus a critical pursuit of the industrial biotechnology community. Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been used in the food and beverage industry for hundreds of years, and more recently has been engineered to produce bioproducts and bioethanol. Here we set out to elucidate effective biocontainment design rules in S. cerevisiae that can be applied to future biocontainment strategies.
We developed a novel repressible kill switch by integrating the toxin relE under the control of the CamOff system in distinct genetic backgrounds of yeast. In the presence of micromolar concentrations of the small molecule camphor, the Cam-transactivator (Cam-TA) cannot bind to the downstream operator sequence and toxin is not expressed (lab conditions). In the absence of camphor (environmental release) Cam-TA binds to the operator sequence leading to expression of relE. Through a CRISPR based transformation, CamOff-relE was integrated into both haploid and diploid organisms from a lab strain of yeast (BY) and a wild isolate used in the bioethanol industry (PE-2). Utilizing both laboratory and mesocosm screening, we discovered that ploidy is a key determinant of biocontainment efficacy and that yeast escape CamOff-relE biocontainment through multiple, independent genetic pathways. The resultant data establish design rules for the development of biocontainment strategies in genetically diverse industrial yeasts.
Natalie Lamb is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Synthetic Biology and Bioconversion at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. She completed her B.S. in Cellular & Molecular Biology at Binghamton University and her PhD in Biochemistry at the University at Buffalo. Before starting at NREL, Natalie worked as a Bioinformatician in UB Genomics and Bioinformatics Core. Her current research at NREL focuses on creating effective biocontainment strategies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that can be applied to other industrially relevant organisms that are grown at scale. In her free time Natalie loves cooking, exploring nature and enjoying all the live music Colorado has to offer.
Upcoming Seminars
09/18 Dr. Teisha Rowland – FDA
10/02 Dr. Julie Johnston – Hampshire College
10/16 Dr. Ursula Goodenough – Washington University in St. Louis
10/30 Dr. Charlene Van Buiten – CSU
11/13 Dr. Matt Olm – CU Boulder
Past Seminars
Dr. Jana Montgomery, ActiVie 04/17/24
“A Career in Curiosity: Navigating Startups
and Academia”
Dr. Brady Worrell, University of Denver 04/03/24
“Catalytic Chain Transfer in Crosslinking Photopolymerizations: Towards Catalyst-Catalyst Multimaterial Additive Manufacturing”
Dr. Cris Argueso, Colorado State University 03/06/24
“Hormonal Regulation of Plant Growth and Defense”
Dr. Griffin Chure, Stanford University 02/21/24
“The Form of Growth and Growth of Form: Understanding Cell Growth and Size Homeostasis from First Principles”
Dr. Chesley Chen, University of Denver 02/07/24
“Zen and the Art of Starting Up a Start-up”
Dr. Yamuna Phal, Colorado School of Mines 01/24/24
“Harnessing and ShapingMid-Infrared Light for Biosensing”
Dr. Brennan Sprinkle, Colorado School of Mines 11/29/23
“The Countoscope: measuring self and collective diffusion with facncy counting”
Dr. Erin Nuccio, Lawerence Livermore National Laboratory 11/15/23
“Visualizing Microbial Oxygen Use Surrounding Roots Using Transparent Soils and Oxygen-sensitive Nanosensors”
Dr. Adrienne Williams, University of California 11/01/23
“Metacognition and Study Strategies as Drivers of Student Success in Biology”
Dr. Joshua Chan, Colorado State University 10/04/23
“Learning Microbial Metabolic Interactions and Their Evolution Through Artificial Intelligence”
Dr. Pavel Osten, The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 09/20/23
“New Platform for Clinically Predictive Drug Recovery in Neuropsychiatry”
Dr. Xuewei Wang, Virginia Commonwealth University 09/06/23
“Optical and Electrochemical Sensors for Decentralized Health Monitoring”
QBE Clubs
Student Advisory Board
The uQBE Student Advisory Board is a board of elected students who each strive to make our major a welcoming and supportive environment. This board works hard to support the staff and the students by aiding and hosting QBE related events. The goal of this board is to bridge the gap between faculty and students to create a supportive community of Mines best students.
STUDENT CLUBS
Bio Builders
BioBuilders @ Mines was created to help foster creation through biology and provide interdisciplinary work and research opportunities for the Mines community. They plan to host classes, projects, and implement a team to compete and travel to the iGEM competition to explore the world of synthetic biology collaboratively. Ultimately, as a student-run organization, they aim to provide opportunities for students to learn from one another about biological research by giving them the space, resources, and support to do so.
We recognize that students majoring in engineering fields have an opportunity to impact medicine greatly by applying their critical thinking and their work ethic. We have been working hard for years to compile a range of contacts that allow our pre-med students to have opportunities other schools cannot offer. Previous opportunities included dissection of a cadaver, volunteering in an emergency department with patient contact, and scholarships for service-oriented events.
American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA)
Mines AMWA has connected with physicians, dentists, and nurses to bring you the best guest speakers. They hold bimonthly meetings, where they discuss women’s issues, medical pathways, potential specialties, and how to thrive in a medical career. AMWA has social events to connect you with other students to build a community and a premedical network.
International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering
The ISPE club intends to provide students with a community of like-minded individuals who are interested in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, with no limitation on their major. They wish to provide professional development and social events to bring this community together and enrich their education. Every student at Mines will have a different career path and ISPE wants to encourage them to consider the biotech/pharma field.