Milan Mrksich
Department of Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry, Northwestern University This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
This talk will describe an approach for synthesizing molecules that have sizes greater than 100 nm and yet are structurally perfectly defined. The approach relies on the selective and covalent reaction of an enzyme domain with an irreversible linker. Fusion proteins containing two or more of the enzyme domains are treated with linkers terminated in two or more of the irreversible inhibitors, leading to the rapid reaction of the partners and efficient assembly of the megamolecule. Several enzyme-inhibitor pairs have been developed, and used to prepare megamolecules that are linear, cyclic, branched, and that have molecular weights greater than 500,000 Dalton, and sizes greater than 100 nm (Figure 1). The talk will describe the use of this approach to create synthetic antibodies for therapeutic applications, and outline routes to a broad array of functional molecules.
Figure 1. Megamolecules are prepared by reacting fusion proteins with molecular linkers that assemble by way of reactions of irreversible inhibitors with specific enzyme domains. Examples of megamolecules that can be assembled include linear structures (top), cyclic structures (left) and branched structures (right).
The megamolecules offer new approaches for preparing scaffolds that can spatially organize protein domains. This talk will describe the assembly of synthetic antibodies that position two (or more) Fab domains with control over the distance and orientation of the domains, as well as bispecific antibodies that present two distinct Fab domains. The talk will include a discussion of applications of this method to prepare nanoscale membranes having biological functions.
2025
16th Pacific Rim Conference on Ceramic and Glass Technology including Glass & Optical Materials Division Meeting (GOMD 2025)
https://ceramics.org/event/16th-pacific-rim-conference-on-ceramic-and-glass-technology-including-glass-optical-materials-division-meeting-gomd-2025/
May 4 - 9, 2025, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
1st International Caparica Conference on Science Education 2025
https://sciedu2025.com/
May 4 -7, 2025, Caparica, Portugal
MIT Predictive Multiscale Materials Design Short Course
An in-person, high-impact program featuring deep technical lectures, hands-on labs, interactive clinics, and networking events
https://professional.mit.edu/course-catalog/predictive-multiscale-materials-design
June 2–6, 2025, MIT Campus, Cambridge, MA, USA
The UK'S Definitive Industrial 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing
https://tct3sixty.com/newfront
June 4 and 5, 2025, Birmingham, UK
ICCCI 2025 - The 8th International Conference on the Characterization and Control of Interfaces for High Quality Advanced Materials and
60th Summer Symposium on Powder Technology
https://ceramics.ynu.ac.jp/iccci2025/
July 8-11, 2025, Fujiyoshida, Japan
Advanced nanomaterials conference, ANM 2025
https://www.advanced-nanomaterials-conference.com/
July 23-25, 2025, University of Aveiro, Portugal
AMSE 2025 The International Conference on Advanced Materials Science and Engineering (AMSE)
https://amse.net/
July 23-25, 2025, Okinawa, Japan
AAAFM-UCLA International Conference on Advances in Functional Materials
https://aaafm.org/ucla2025/
August 4-6, 2025, UCLA, CA, USA
METALLURGY2025, The Global Summit on Metallurgical Engineering and Mineral Processing
https://metallurgical.researchconnects.org/
August 4–6, 2025, Frankfurt, Germany
35th International Conference on Diamond and Carbon Materials (ICDCM 2025)
https://www.elsevier.com/events/conferences/all/international-conference-on-diamond-and-carbon-materials
31 August – 4 September, 2025, Glasgow, UK
26th YUCOMAT Annual Conference on Material Science
https://www.mrs-serbia.org.rs/index.php/yucomat/yucomat-2025
September 1-5, 2025, Herceg Novi, Montenegro
18th European Congress and Exhibition on Advanced Materials and Processes
https://euromat2025.com/
September 14-18, 2025, Granada, Spain
15th EASN International Conference
https://easnconference.eu/
October 14-17, 2025, Madrid, Spain
Infectious Diseases Global Congress
https://infectious-meetings.com/
November 13-14, 2025, Amsterdam, Netherlands
MRS Fall Meeting 2025
https://www.mrs.org/meetings-events/annual-meetings/2025-mrs-fall-meeting
November 30-December 5, 2025, Boston, Massachusetts
2025 Asian Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences (AFPS) Conference
https://www.afps2025.org/
3 to 5 December 3 - 5, 2025, University of Sydney, Australia.
2026
27th YUCOMAT Annual Conference on Material Science
https://www.mrs-serbia.org.rs/index.php/yucomat/27th-yucomat-2026
August 31 - September 04, 2026, Herceg Novi, Montenegro
Sintering 2026 The International Conference on Sintering
https://www.sintering2026.org/en
31 August - 3 September 2026 in Aachen, Germany
2027
28 YUCOMAT Conference and 14 WRTCS Conference
August 30 - September 03, 2027, Herceg Novi, Montenegro
