Prof. D. Hilvert: Evolving virus-like assemblies in the lab

The Institute of Organic Chemistry is pleased to announce that the

Siegfried Hünig Lecture 2023 will be presented by

Prof. Donald Hilvert, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.

Professor Hilvert's talk

"Evolving virus-like assemblies in the lab"

will take place in lecture hall B on June 15th at 4:45 pm.

Abstract:

Viruses consist of a protective proteinaceous shell that packages an RNA or DNA genome. The emergence of protein cages that could load, protect, and transfer their own genetic information was therefore likely to be a critical step in the evolution of all primitive viruses. Using a combination of design and directed evolution, this process can now be recapitulated in the laboratory. We have converted a bacterial enzyme called lumazine synthase into an artificial nucleocapsid that efficiently encapsulates its own encoding mRNA and have elucidated the structural changes in cargo and container that made this transformation possible. In addition to providing insight into the origins of natural viruses, such constructs may serve as non-viral carriers for diverse vaccine and delivery applications.

Donald Hilvert:

Donald Hilvert is Professor in the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry at ETH Zurich. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1983 from Columbia University, for research in the lab of Ronald Breslow. Following postdoctoral work at Rockefeller University (New York), Donald Hilvert started his academic career at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, in 1986. He moved to ETH Zurich as a full professor of Organic Chemistry in 1997. Professor Hilvert’s research program utilizes the tools of chemical biology to study and engineer proteins, including designer enzymes with customized catalytic activities, and molecular containers made of self-assembling proteins with prospective uses in biology and medicine.

Professor Hilvert’s outstanding research has been recognized by a number of awards, including the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award of the ACS, the Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry, the Protein Society’s Emil Thomas Kaiser Award, and the Ronald Breslow Award for Achievements in Biomimetic Chemistry. He received an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University and is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.