Cambridge Healthtech Institute recently interviewed Dr. John Dresios of Leidos, Inc. about protein synthesis and regulation of gene expression. He will present on “A Cell-Free Expression and Purification Platform for Rapid and Flexible Production of Protein Biologics” at the 19th Annual Recombinant Protein Expression and Production conference, taking place January 10-11, 2017 as part of the 16th Annual PepTalk event which runs from January 9-13, 2017 in San Diego, CA.

Q1: Can you describe your research projects at Leidos?

Our multidisciplinary team of biologists, chemists, mathematicians, physicists and engineers focuses on the use of systems biology approaches to unravel the rules that govern regulation of gene expression in response to various stimuli, as well as synthetic biology to create novel gene expression systems for therapeutic, diagnostic, and biosensing applications.

Q2: Why have you focused on protein synthesis and regulation of gene expression as your area of expertise? What’s the impact you hope to have with your work?

Protein synthesis represents a key process in regulating gene expression in virtually any organism. This complex biological process consists of several steps that can be readily manipulated to allow a desired molecular and phenotypic outcome. For example, targeting protein synthesis can lead to novel drugs that interfere with the expression of host or pathogen genes involved in disease. In addition, manipulation and optimization of protein synthesis allows rapid, flexible and cost-effective production of therapeutic products in various cell-based or cell free formats. Our goal is to realize the benefits of these strategies and current technologies by way of their application for specialized needs that include both precision and personalized medicine, point-of-care products and novel medical countermeasures.

Q3: What are the most exciting developments you foresee in your field over the next decade?

The next decade will bring significant changes in understanding and controlling gene expression. Novel computational biology and experimental technologies will be developed for characterizing genome structure and dynamics as well as gene expression, function and regulation thereof. In addition, advanced multiscale data integration methodologies and dynamic modeling of pathways and networks of biological systems will be developed along with novel genetic and epigenetic technologies for allowing temporal and spatial control of nucleic acid expression. Synthetic biology technologies in combination with advances in microfabrication and lab-on-a-chip technologies will enable development of portable platforms for point-of-care production of biologic material for personalized medicine, biosensor and diagnostic applications.

Q4: What do you intend to get out of your attendance at PepTalk 2017?

I look forward to being informed about the latest advances in the fields of protein science and engineering as well as networking with teams from academia and industry toward establishing collaborative efforts in areas of mutual interest.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY:

John Dresios, Ph.D., Chief Scientist and Technical Fellow, Leidos, Inc.

Dr. Dresios has 20 years of experience in the fields of protein synthesis and regulation of gene expression. As a Chief Scientist at Leidos (formerly SAIC), he has conceptualized, captured and directed numerous internally- and U.S. government-funded programs for the development of advanced diagnostic and therapeutic technologies at the intersection of biology, chemistry and engineering. Dr. Dresios’ accomplishments have been recognized with various awards and his establishment as a corporate leader by elevating at the rank of Technical Fellow. As a Skaggs Postdoctoral Fellow at the Scripps Research Institute, he pioneered research that unraveled fundamental aspects of protein synthesis and control of gene expression. As an NIH postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago, he made discoveries in the fields of RNA and protein structure and recognition as well as eukaryotic and prokaryotic ribosome function and dynamics. Dr. Dresios holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Patras, Greece.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HIS PRESENTATION AND PEPTALK, VISIT: CHI-PepTalk.com/Protein-Expression-Production/