10/22, 2-3:45pm (Hybrid), Honors ‘Emerging Scholars’ Series: Brett Palmero and Annie Gomez
Northwestern University Ph.D. Students Annie Gomez and Brett Palmero
October 22, 2:00pm-3:45pm (Hybrid) — Honors ‘Emerging Scholars’ Series: Brett Palmero and Annie Gomez
Join us for a discussion with Northwestern University Ph.D. Students Brett Palmero and Annie Gomez: “Prokaryotes have Organelles too: Ongoing Investigations to Engineer the Bacterial Microcompartment”. In line with the Honors Program’s “Emerging Scholars” Series, Brett and Annie will discuss both their research, and their educational paths. This hybrid event is cosponsored by the STEM Scholars Program. Please register in advance to attend via Zoom here. Please register to attend in-person here (Lee 200 in Des Plaines).
Research Abstract:
One distinction made between eukaryotes and prokaryotes is that prokaryotes do not have cellular compartmentalization in the form of organelles. In actuality, many species of bacteria harbor organelles that aid in the spatial organization of various cellular processes. One such organelle is the bacterial microcompartment (MCP) which is a proteinaceous organelle that encapsulates a metabolic pathway inside of a porous shell made up of a diverse set of protein subunits. In this talk, two researchers will discuss their ongoing work to investigate and engineer the MCP.
Encapsulation of a metabolic pathway inside of a porous protein shell creates a diffusion barrier that can potentially sequester pathway intermediates and cofactors, making them private to the encapsulated pathway. Brett Palmero is investigating the possible benefits of pathway encapsulation on metabolism by encapsulating heterologous metabolic pathways and observing changes to pathway flux. His goal is to confer these benefits to metabolic pathways used in the bioproduction of commodity goods.
MCPs can also be repurposed for the development of nanostructures that can facilitate the transportation/encapsulation of industrial compounds. Annie Gomez is investigating how mutations can affect protein assembly by mutating charged amino acids in two abundant MCP shell proteins and observing how these changes influence the MCP's assembly mechanisms. Her goal is to determine the self-assembly properties of shell proteins and determine their governing factors to reprogram MCP assemblies with enhanced stability.
Brett Palmero is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences program at Northwestern University. He is conducting his thesis work in Dr. Danielle Tullman-Ercek's protein engineering lab where he is investigating how encapsulation of a metabolic pathway in a protein shell called the bacterial microcompartment benefits the performance of the metabolic pathway. He is also determining if the microcompartment can be engineered to encapsulate metabolic pathways that make commodity chemicals for use in biomanufacturing. Prior to his Ph.D. work, he conducted research on telomeres, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. Currently, he is pursuing a career in Biology instruction in higher education and is exploring opportunities to teach at 2-year and 4-year institutions. He wants to create a learning environment with active learning and inclusive pedagogy to close the opportunity gap and give students all they need to succeed.
Annie Gomez is a Ph.D. Student in the Materials Science department at Northwestern University. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Physics and Latin American Studies from Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Her research focuses on understanding self-assembly and surface properties in bacterial microcompartments for metabolic engineering applications. Outside of the lab, she enjoys finding the best coffee shops in Chicago, boxing, and thrifting.
