Matthew P. DeLisa, Cornell University
Professor
Ithaca, New York
md255@cornell.edu
Office:
(607) 254-8560
Expert In
Bio/Research
It has been suggested that life depends on 200-300 core biological processes, the vast majority of which are accomplished by large heterogeneous protein assemblies commonly referred to as machines. Unfortunately, the functional details of many cellular machines have yet to be described for lack o...
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Bio/Research
It has been suggested that life depends on 200-300 core biological processes, the vast majority of which are accomplished by large heterogeneous protein assemblies commonly referred to as machines. Unfortunately, the functional details of many cellular machines have yet to be described for lack of effective tools. In turn, this has hindered our ability to harness nature's machines for tackling problems that cannot be solved with natural systems. The DeLisa laboratory is working to address this need by bridging fundamental biological and chemical concepts with new tools for interrogating and manipulating biological machinery directly in living cells. A major goal of the DeLisa group is to engineer the protein machinery of simple bacteria for solving complex problems in biology and medicine. They focus on the molecular machines of protein biosynthesis as both a target for understanding and reprogramming cellular function and as a toolbox for the creation of therapeutically and industrially relevant molecules. Their unique approach involves probing and exploiting the function and specificity of cellular protein machinery by integrating protein engineering - the science of redesigning natural biomolecular scaffolds - with microbial genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology to address these problems. The end result is a deep understanding of the complexities of intracellular protein machinery that can ultimately be used to inform the engineering of cellular processes for the purpose of discovery, design and production of a diverse array of useful products and processes.
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