Please contact me if you would like to meet the speaker
Wednesday 6th February, School of Biological Sciences, SR6, 1 pm
Sierin Lim
Division of Bioengineering, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
Nanyang Technological University, 70 Nanyang Drive, Block N1.3, Singapore 637457, SLim@ntu.edu.sg
Abstract — Protein cages can be engineered to tailor its function as carriers for therapeutic and diagnostic agents. They are formed by self-assembly of multiple subunits forming hollow spherical cage structures of nanometer size. Due to their proteinaceous nature, the protein cages allow facile modifications on its internal and external surfaces, as well as the subunit interfaces. Modifications on the internal and the external surfaces allow conjugation of small molecule drugs or contrast agent and targeting ligands, respectively. The subunit interaction is of special interest in engineering controlled release property onto the protein cage. Two protein cages, E2 protein and ferritin, are described.
Biodata
Sierin Lim obtained both her B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, respectively. She joined Nanyang Technological University (NTU) as Assistant Professor at the end of July 2007 after a 2.5-year postdoctoral research at University of California, Irvine (UCI). She was the Singapore recipient of the 2012 Asia Pacific Research Networking Fellowship from the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering.
Dr. Lim’s research focuses on the design, engineering, and development of hybrid nano/microscale devices from biological parts by utilizing protein engineering as a tool. In particular, she is interested in self-assembling protein-derived nanocapsules and photosynthetic biological materials. The project scopes range from understanding the self-assembly mechanism of the nanocapsules and engineering theranostic carriers to the improvement of electron transfer efficiency in a photosynthetic electrochemical cell.