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Scripps Research Joint Appointments

Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Therapeutics

Research Focus

All of contemporary biology and most chemistry is compartmentalized. For example, beakers, flasks or microplate wells spatially segregate individual chemical reactions. Likewise, membranes compartmentalize individual cells and subcellular organelles, tissues and organs organize the metabolism of multi-cellular organisms, and even organisms themselves are merely the vehicles for selfishly replicating genes in a population. Reaction vessels, seemingly innocuous entities, actually play starring roles in activities ranging from drug discovery laboratory automation and technology development to natural selection and the origins of life on Earth. We are broadly interested in the rational construction of microscopic reaction vessels and the interesting chemical and biological operations that we can conduct within their confines.

Education

B.S., Chemistry, Duke University, 1998
Ph.D., Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, 2003

Awards & Professional Activities

NIH Director's New Innovator Award (2011)
NIH Pathway to Independence Award (2007)
NIH NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow (2004)

Selected References

Matosevic S & Paegel BM (2011) Step-wise synthesis of giant unilamellar vesicles on a microfluidic assembly Line. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133:2798-2800.

Paegel BM (2010) Microfluidic landscapes for evolution. Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 14:568

Paegel BM, Joyce GF (2010) Microfluidic compartmentalized directed evolution. Chem. Biol. 17:717

Paegel BM, Joyce GF (2008) Darwinian evolution on a chip. PLoS Biol 6:900-906.

Paegel BM, Grover WH, Skelley AM, Mathies RA, Joyce GF (2006) Microfluidic serial dilution circuit. Anal Chem 78: 7522-7527.

Links

Making Cells on an Assembly Line

Top Scientists Explore the Origin of Life in Lasker Lecture

Scientists Automate Molecular Evolution