August 6, 2024
The UW Molecular Engineering Ph.D. program celebrated 12 students who successfully defended their theses during the 2023-2024 academic year on May 31. Faculty, students, and the graduates’ family and friends were in attendance. These MolE Ph.D. graduates conducted interdisciplinary research across eight different departments and organizations.
During the ceremony, Gökçe Altin was awarded the MolES Distinguished Dissertation Award for her publication, “3D printed engineered living materials with genetically programmed mechanical properties and bioproduction performance for the design of functional objects and therapeutic delivery platforms.” A committee of MolES faculty and staff selected her for the award.
Nelson and Altin
Altin’s worked on developing a class of engineered living materials (ELMs), which combine living cells with polymeric matrices to yield novel materials with programmable functions. The cell platform and polymer network determine the material properties and applications. ELMs have the potential to attain a level of precision, control, responsiveness, and chemical recyclability unachievable with traditional, abiotic materials. Her most impactful contribution to the field thus far is the demonstration of 3D-printed ELMs with bio-augmented mechanical properties. This project was performed with collaborator Hal Alper at the University of Texas, Austin.
In this study, Altin utilized bovine serum albumin (BSA) resin to encapsulate and print engineered E. coli for the in-situ production of L-DOPA (a phytochemical compound belongs to phenolic family) to enhance the mechanical stiffness; naringenin (a phytochemical compound belongs to flavonoid family) production was used to demonstrate an ELM for continuous production of a therapeutic compound and S. cerevisiae was engineered to produce betaxanthin (a phytochemical compound belongs to beta lain family) to afford an ELM that could resist microbial degradation.
“Gökçe demonstrated the potential for this field by 3D printing robust ELM hydrogels as machine parts that can be assembled into mechanically functional nut/bolt and functional gears,” said her advisor, Al Nelson , the MolES director of education, Nist Faculty Fellow, associate chair, and professor of chemistry. “Her findings represent an exciting advancement toward engineered living machines.”
Her work on this was published in March in Advanced Functional Materials . Before arriving at UW, Altin was a graduate student at Istanbul Technical University, where she studied the chemistry of bioactive compounds, including polyphenols, carotenoids, and fatty acids. She has since joined the faculty at Northeastern University as an assistant professor in the College of Science within the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
Please click the names below to learn more about each 2023-24 graduate’s Ph.D. research.
Advisor Al Nelson, Chemistry
“3D printed engineered living materials with genetically programmed mechanical properties and bioproduction performance for the design of functional objects and therapeutic delivery platforms.”
Advisor: Sean Gibbons, Institute for Systems Biology.
“Microbial community-scale metabolic modeling predicts personalized short-chain-fatty-acid production profiles in the human gut.”
Nick is staying on to continue his work in the Gibbons Lab.
Advisors: Nitin Baliga and Sean Gibbons, Institute for Systems Biology
“Systems approaches to infer microbial interactions and their impact on ecosystem function.”
Alex is staying on to continue his work in the Gibbons Lab.
Advisor Karin Bornfeldt, Pathology
“Diabetes exacerbates atherosclerosis via inflammasome- and APOC3-dependent pathways.”
Steven is now a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University.
Advisor Nathan Price, Institute for Systems Biology
“Leveraging real-world data, including the electronic health record, to fill in clinical knowledge gaps in treating pregnant people.”
Advisor David Baker, Biochemistry
“De novo protein design with deep learning.”
David will be a postdoc at Stanford University.
Advisor Hugh Hillhouse, Chemical Engineering
“Advancements in stable solution-processed photovoltaic materials: Exploration of new high-bandgap materials and degradation kinetics of low-bandgap perovskites.”
Advisor: Elizabeth Nance, Chemical Engineering.
"Brain-derived extracellular vesicles as therapeutic vehicles and molecular probes in the neonatal brain.”
For the summer, Phuong will continue to work in the Nance Lab while she looks for jobs in industry.
Advisor David Ginger, Chemistry
“Reducing recombination in halide perovskite solar cells via interface engineering.”
Yangwei is working for Meta via HCLTech as a process engineer.
Advisor: Scott Dunham, Electrical & Computer Engineering
“Defect modeling and device optimization in electronic devices from first principles.”
Xiofeng is an advanced product engineer at Siemens EDA in California.
Advisor: James Heath, Institute for Systems Biology
“High-throughput biomolecular technologies for the analysis of antigen-specific CD8 T cells.”
The MolE Ph.D. program at UW allows students to engage in impactful, cutting-edge research in collaboration with world-class faculty, all within reach of Seattle’s thriving science and technology scene. MolE students work on everything from developing better battery materials for a clean energy future to designing de novo proteins that selectively bind targets to treat or prevent disease. MolE graduates are prepared for careers in many sectors, including energy, manufacturing, drug development, and more. For more information about our program, visit our prospective students page .