Professor Jan van Hest, Eindhoven University of Technology, Bio-organic Chemistry, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Building life-like systems: artificial cells and organelles

In nature many biological processes are compartmentalized to ensure their integrity and efficiency. Inspired by this phenomenon, we explore hybrid capsules based on a combination of proteins and amphiphilic block copolymers to construct bioactive compartments. In this lecture we will give a number of examples to highlight the versatility of this approach.

Intrinsically porous enzyme-loaded polymer vesicles, also known as polymersomes, have been explored as artificial organelles. We have been able to introduce these nanoreactors in living cells and have shown they can perform their function in this natural environment. We have furthermore investigated the encapsulation of multiple polymersome nanoreactors in a larger polymersome, to mimic the structural build-up of a eukaryotic cell. With this approach we were able to perform a multistep cascade reaction in a controlled fashion.

One important aspect of living systems is that they can communicate with and respond to changes in the environment. We have been able to build a synthetic cell in which an internal biocatalytic process was triggered by the external addition of small molecules. By adding different molecules, a different response was attained.

 Living cells are able to move under the influence of outside chemical signals, a process known as chemotaxis. We have applied this concept to bowl-shaped indented vesicles, known as stomatocytes, in which enzymes can be effectively encapsulated. The enzymes were able to effectively convert fuel molecules into oxygen. Due to their anisotropic shape, this catalytic activity allowed the particles to move. By employing a chemical gradient chemotaxis in biological fluids with high level of efficiency was observed. We have furthermore been able to construct an enzyme network inspired by nature, which allows us to regulate the speed of the nanomotors via feedforward mechanisms, in a similar way as glycolysis functions in living cells.

Biography

Jan van Hest conducted his doctoral research at the Eindhoven University of Technology under supervision of Prof. Bert Meijer (Ph.D. 1996). As a postdoctoral researcher he collaborated  with Prof. D. A. Tirrell, at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. In 1997 he joined the chemical company DSM, where he worked as research scientist and later on as group leader on the development of innovative material concepts. In 2000 he was appointed as a full professor in Bio-organic chemistry at the Radboud University Nijmegen. As of September 2016 he is the Chair of Bio-organic Chemistry in the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering & Chemistry of Eindhoven University of Technology.   Jan van Hest is a VICI recipient (2010) and was a member of The Young Academy of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences from 2005 to 2010.  He is a member of the research team that was awarded a gravitation program grant for Functional Molecular Systems in 2012. He is an associate editor of Bioconjugate Chemistry. In 2016 he obtained an ERC Advanced grant on the topic of artificial endosymbiosis. 30 PhD students have graduated under supervision of van Hest and 18 PhD students are currently pursuing their doctorate. More than 280 papers have been published. He is co-inventor of 17 patents/patent applications and he is a cofounder of the start-up companies Encapson, FutureChemistry, Noviosense and Noviotech.

His research interests include 1) the design and synthesis of bio-inspired peptide-based materials; 2) the development of bioconjugation methods to construct biohybrid systems; 3) compartmentalization approaches to create scaffolds and delivery vehicles for application in nanomedicine; 4) adaptive nano- and micro-compartments that mimic cellular behavior. 

Host: Associate Professor Brigitte Städler, iNANO and Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University