Allie Obermeyer: Engineering Proteins as SEAS
Allie Obermeyer, assistant professor of chemical engineering, conducts research bridging chemistry, biology, and engineering, is focused on improving human health by developing protein- and polymer-based materials for biomedical applications.
Protein phase separation has been linked to the organization of cellular components via the formation of membraneless organelles, which are compartments in a cell that are not enclosed by a lipid membrane. These phase-separated membraneless organelles create distinct environments that are essential to cellular processes that range from cell signaling to stress response. While several key proteins that form these organelles have been identified, researchers are still unable to design membraneless organelles from the ground up.
At the PSME Symposium, Obermeyer will share her group’s efforts to design synthetic membraneless organelles. Her approach is inspired by natural biological systems and builds on the physics of polymer phase separation controlled by electrostatic interactions. By simply tuning the charge on proteins, Obermeyer’s team has engineered phase separation of these proteins with nucleic acids in cells. Using a library of engineered proteins, her team has determined predictive design rules for protein phase separation in vivo. Their results have enabled them to apply these design rules to promote membraneless organelle formation for a range of proteins of interest. They are now using these capabilities to improve protein purification and the biosynthesis of chemicals.
Watch the Class Day ceremony on Youtube
Columbia Engineering honored the Class of 2021 at Virtual Commencement Ceremonies on Thursday, April 29.
Watch the Class Day ceremony on Youtube
School of Engineering and Science - Graduate Class Day 2021
Class of 2021 Award Winners
Valedictorian and Illig Prize – Noah Huber-Feely
Salutatorian – Alexander Paskov
George Vincent Wendell Prize – Adheli Gonzalez
Morton B. Friedman Memorial Prize for Excellence – Tingjun Chen
Graduate Student Life Leadership Awards – Christophe Jean-Michael and Aimee Rose Moses
Doctoral Graduate Student Life Leadership Award – Shreya Narasimhan
The full program is available online.
Faculty Award Winners
Edward and Carole Kim Award for Faculty Involvement
Ali Hirsa, Professor of Professional Practice
Yevgeniy Yesilevskiy, Lecturer in the Discipline of Innovation and Design
Janette and Armen Avanessians Diversity Award
Chris Boyce, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering
Augustin Chaintreau, Associate Professor of Computer Science