Guest lecture by Mirkó Palla, PhD
Abstract: Driven by the maturation of next-generation sequencing technologies, DNA sequencing has been dramatically expanding its scope in basic life science research and in clinical medicine. In this seminar, I will detail our recent study (Stranges* and Palla* et al., PNAS, 2016), in which we have provided proof-of-principle for a new integrated sequencing system that can lay the foundation for a highly scalable, accurate, single-molecule DNA sequencing platform. This has the potential to sequence entire genomes at much lower costs and to become instrumental for transforming many areas of precision medicine. I will then discuss an extension of this platform technology used as a multiplex screening tool for a library of DNA polymerases (in revision: Palla* and Punthambaker* et al., Nature Communications, 2018) to identify variants with novel properties for applications of biotechnological interest.
Biography: Mirkó Palla is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. George M. Church, jointly appointed in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and in the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. His research includes new technology development toward the goal of high-throughput detection and actuation of enzymes at the single-molecule level, while enabling discoveries using these tools for comprehensive biological system studies. He is the winner of multiple awards including the ACP Award to present at the 10th Biennial Workshop on Single Molecule Biophysics (SMB2019), CBMS Travel Grant to present at the 2016 International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (MicroTAS), Best Paper Award at the 2015 IEEE Sensors Conference, and the Norman L. Rea Award for Excellence in Mechanical Engineering at Clarkson. Mirkó received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering with a Minor in Mathematics from Clarkson University in 2007, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University in 2012 and 2014.