2023-24 Rising Star speaker
Dr. Ashleigh Theberge
Associate Professor of Chemistry and Adjunct Associate Professor of Urology, University of Washington
Wednesday, February 7
12:00 – 1:00 PM
105 Stanley Hall
Bioanalytical Systems for Translational Research: From Microscale Cell Culture Platforms to Biofluid Self-Sampling Tools
Abstract:
Small molecule and protein signals provide a rich vocabulary for cellular communication. This talk will highlight new enabling methods to study chemical mechanisms underlying disease—spanning methods for in vitro cell culture and human subjects research, where participants collect and stabilize their own blood using our recently developed homeRNA platform. To better understand signaling processes in both normal and disease states, we have developed new open microfluidic platforms that accommodate the culture of multiple cell types in microfabricated compartments while allowing soluble factor signaling between cell types. Our devices are open, pipette accessible, interface with high resolution microscopy, and can be manufactured at scale by injection molding, increasing translation to collaborators in biological and clinical labs without chemistry and engineering expertise. We have also used open microfluidic principles to develop novel strategies to 3D print hydrogels for biological and materials science applications. Finally, this talk will highlight the development of homeRNA, a kit that enables at-home blood collection and RNA stabilization for longitudinal human subjects studies, including ongoing studies investigating the immune response to wildfire smoke exposure, infectious disease, and during treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
Bio:
Ashleigh Theberge is Associate Professor of Chemistry andAdjunct Associate Professor of Urology at the University of Washington. Sheholds a BA from Williams College and a PhD from the University of Cambridge.Her group develops microscale culture and analysis methods to study cell-cell,cell-extracellular matrix, and host-microbe interactions. She also develops newmethods for at-home sampling and sample preservation for longitudinal studiesincluding blood, saliva, and air sampling. Selected awards include an NIH MIRA(2018) and awards from the Beckman (2018), Packard (2019), Sloan (2021), andDreyfus (2022) foundations. She will co-Chaired the GRC on the Physics andChemistry of Microfluidics in 2023.
Past Rising Stars
2022-23
Polly Fordyce
Associate Professor of Bioengineering and of Genetics, Fellow of the ChEM-H Institute, Stanford University
“Microfluidics for High-Throughput and Quantitative Biophysics, Biochemistry, and Single-Cell Biology”
2021-22
Fei Chen
Core Member, Broad Institute, MIT
Assistant Professor, Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University
“Tissue genomics: genomic measurements in context”
View the recorded lecture
2020-21
Tim Downing
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, UC Irvine
PhD Berkeley-UCSF Graduate Program in Bioengineering, 2013
“Synthetic Genome Regulation for Cell and Tissue Engineering”
2019-20
Professor Krishanu Saha
Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering & Wisconsin Institute for Discovery
“Towards nonviral, in vivo genome editing therapies: new tools and models to facilitate translation”
2017-18
Professor Stanley Qi of Stanford University
2016-17
Professor Kim Woodrow of the University of Washington
“Engineering the mucosal microenvironment promotes targeting of particulate and cellular immunotherapies to lymphoid organs”