Date: Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Time: 9:30-10:30AM
Location: Health Science Technology Building (HST), Forum Room 101
This event features Efie Kokkoli, who will talk about "Self-assembly of DNA and RNA nanotubes for selective targeting of different cancers", as part of the Lehigh University Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering's Fall 2023 Colloquium Seminar Series.
Abstract
Self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules is an attractive method to engineer supramolecular materials for biomedical and other applications. In my group, we focus on the design of DNA- and RNA-amphiphiles and evaluate how different building blocks of the amphiphiles affect their tendency to self-assemble spontaneously into different nanostructures, as well as their potential to be used for different applications. In this presentation, I will discuss aspects of the molecular design of nucleic acid amphiphiles that control the formation of functional nanotubes, along with their use as targeted delivery vehicles for glioblastoma and triple negative breast cancer.
About the Speaker
Efie Kokkoli is a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and a core member of the Institute for NanoBioTechnology at Johns Hopkins University. She engineers innovative functionalized biomaterials and targeted nanoparticles for the delivery of therapeutics to help transform methods of cancer treatment. She received her Diploma in Chemical Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and did her postdoc at the University of Minnesota and the University of California, Santa Barbara. External awards include the 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, NSF CAREER, and she was inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows.
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