PMI/PCCM SEMINAR SERIES SPRING 2025: Omar Saleh, University of California Santa Barbara

Hosted by Andrej Košmrlj
Date
Feb 26, 2025, 12:30 pm1:30 pm
Location

Details

Event Description

DNA liquids

Abstract: We seek to create self-assembled biomolecular liquid droplets that act as rough mimics of biological condensates, and to engineer mesoscopic structure and function into the droplets through molecular design. We particularly form liquids composed of DNA nanostars-- multi-armed DNA particles about 10 nm in size that condense through base-pairing interactions. By modifying the sequence of the constituent DNA strands, we can control both the kinetics and equilibrium of nanostar phase separation, as well as their interactions with enzymes. Using this approach, we have explored the nanostar system's ability to form complex, emergent structures and patterns, sometimes dynamically, across length scales ranging from microns to millimeters. While our primary focus is on the material physics underlying these behaviors, I will also touch on potential applications.

Bio: Professor Omar A. Saleh is a physicist and materials scientist with broad expertise in biomolecular and polymer science. Saleh received his B.S. in Physics from MIT in 1997, and his Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton in 2003. His graduate studies were supported by a Hertz Fellowship. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, France, where he developed single-molecule experimental techniques to study motor protein/DNA interactions. He came to UC Santa Barbara in 2005, where he is now a full professor with appointments in the Materials and Physics Departments, along with a minority appointment in the Biomolecular Science and Engineering (BMSE) Program. He served as Director of the BMSE program from 2013 to 2017, and was an elected member of the Executive Committee of the Division of Biological Physics of the American Physical Society from 2013 to 2016. Since the summer of 2023, he is the Chair of the Materials Department. Saleh's research is focused on the molecular physics underlying biological systems, with particular experience in nucleic acids, protein/DNA interactions, motor proteins, biomolecular elasticity, and self-assembled biomolecular systems. His research achievements were recognized by an NSF CAREER award in 2008, by a Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Society in 2017, and by his selection as a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2019 by the Division of Biological Physics. More details are available in his CV, linked to the right.

 

All seminars are held on Wednesdays from 12:30 -1:30p.m. in the Bowen Hall Auditorium Room 222.   A light lunch is provided at 12:00p.m. in the Bowen Hall Atrium immediately prior to the seminar.