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Biotechnology

Biotechnology has been revolutionized by the techniques of genetic engineering that have been developed in recent years. In this course, students will learn some of the fundamentals of molecular biology and have the chance to do hands-on genetic engineering. Already today, engineers use this technology to modify living cells of plants and bacteria so that they produce   important biomedical products such as human insulin. Students will learn these techniques and then apply them in the laboratory themselves, using the gene for the harmless but interesting firefly luciferase enzyme.

Faculty
Schedule

Faculty

Faculty Advisor: Professor David Graves

Professor David Graves received his undergraduate education at Carnegie Mellon University and his SM and ScD degrees from MIT. His research since then has centered on the application of chemical engineering principles to biotechnology and medically related problems. This has included separation and cell growth systems with magnetically stabilized beds, non-uniform field electrophoresis, immobilized enzyme reaction systems, artificial photosynthesis, affinity chromatography, cell adhesion to surfaces, plant cell culture systems, and most recently analysis and optimization of DNA microarray processes.

Professor Graves has consulted for numerous industrial, governmental and legal organizations. He has supervised 17 PhD students and 10 undergraduate and masters thesis students. He has lectured widely and authored over 100 articles, plus 10 patents. His honors include a Fulbright award as well as a Humboldt Foundation fellowship and "Quest for Technology" prize from the Wharton School. His sabbaticals have taken him to Germany and Sweden, and most recently to Stanford University to work with others on microarrays.

Instructor: Mete Civelek

Mete Civelek is a 6th year PhD candidate in the Department of Bioengineering. He works on the effects of blood flow on endothelial cell phenotype in different arteries using genomics techniques.

Before coming to Penn, he worked in the Cardiovascular Drug Discovery Group of Merck Research Laboratories. He has an MS degree in Chemical Engineering from Penn State University. He has also double majored in Chemical Engineering and Molecular Biology at Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey. He has previously taught biotechnology lab in the Penn Summer Science Academy for high school students, and was the teaching assistant for the junior/senior bioengieering course, Hemodynamics.

Instructor: Yun Fang, Ph.D.

Dr. Fang is a postdoctoral fellow at School of Medicine of University of Pennsylvania. He received his doctoral degree in Bioengineering and master degree in Biotechnology, both from University of Pennsylvania. Before coming to Penn, he majored in microbiology and plant pathology at National Taiwan University, Taipei. Dr. Fang's research focuses on elucidating the underlying mechanisms of hypercholesterolemia-induced atherosclerosis, the major cause of heart attack and stroke. He is also interested in the molecular mechanisms that lead to the nonrandom distribution of atherosclerotic plaques within the vasculature. Dr. Fang is currently an American Heart Association-funded investigator, studying the physiological/ pathophysiological role of microRNA in cardiovascular systems. He has previously taught biotechnology lab in the Penn Summer Science Academy and instructed in the biotechnology program of SAAST.

Instructor: Kim Shoenly

Kim Schoenly is a 5th year PhD candidate in Cell & Molecular Biology, working the laboratory of Dr. David Weiner.  Her research involves designing DNA vaccines for HIV-1 and manipulating the immune response through the use of molecular adjuvants.  She previously taught the SAAST Biotechnology journal-reading seminar with topics in gene therapy & vaccines.  She has been a member of the Penn Biotechnology Group for several years.

Prior to Penn, Kim graduated from Eckerd College, a liberal arts school in St. Petersburg, FL with a bachelor of science in biology.  There she did an independent research project and thesis on the pH signaling pathways in fungus, as well as serving as a TA for genetics and cell biology.  She also traveled to Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama to study tropical ecology.

Sample Schedule (subject to change)

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