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Scripps Research Joint Appointments

Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Therapeutics
Faculty, Kellogg School of Science and Technology

Research Focus

All of contemporary biology and most chemistry is compartmentalized. For example, a beaker, flask or microplate well spatially segregates an individual chemical reaction. Likewise, membranes compartmentalize individual cells and subcellular organelles. Tissues and organs embody compartmentalization in the anatomy of a multi-cellular organism, and even organisms themselves are merely the compartments for selfishly replicating genes in an evolving population. Given their ubiquity and importance in nature and in the laboratory, we are broadly interested in the rational construction of picoliter-scale compartments and the interesting chemistry and biology that we can conduct within their confines. We are currently pursuing applications in drug discovery technology development and instrumentation design, in vitro evolution and protein engineering, mass spectrometry, and synthetic biology. Please see our website under “projects” for more details.

Education

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

Awards & Professional Activities

NIH Director's New Innovator Award 2011-2016
NIH Pathway to Independence Award 2007-2011
NIH NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow 2004-2006

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