Organic Chemistry Seminar: Professor Donald Hilvert, ETH Zurich

About the Seminar

Evolving virus-like assemblies in the lab

Viruses consist of a protective proteinaceous shell that packages an RNA or DNA genome. The emergence of protein cages that could load, protect, and transfer their own genetic information was therefore likely to be a critical step in the evolution of all primitive viruses. Using a combination of design and directed evolution, this process can now be recapitulated in the laboratory.  We have converted a bacterial enzyme called lumazine synthase into an artificial nucleocapsid that efficiently encapsulates its own encoding mRNA and have elucidated the structural changes in cargo and container that made this transformation possible. In addition to providing insight into the origins of natural viruses, such constructs may serve as non-viral carriers for diverse vaccine and delivery applications.

About the Speaker 

Donald Hilvert obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1983 from Columbia University.  Following postdoctoral work at Rockefeller University, he started his academic career on the faculty of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.  Since October 1997, he has been Professor in the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry at the ETH Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland).  Professor Hilvert’s research program utilizes the tools of chemical biology to study and engineer proteins, including designer enzymes and molecular containers. These efforts have been recognized by a number of awards, including the Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry, the Protein Society Emil Thomas Kaiser Award, and the Ronald Breslow Award for Achievement in Biomimetic Chemistry. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and received an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University.