CBE & MSE Seminar: Virus Evolution and Single Cell Assaying using Drop-based Microfluidics

Abstract: Viral infection is a complex process involving highly diverse and dynamic viral populations interacting with heterogeneous host cells. Traditional cell culture systems and virological methods evaluate both the virus and host cells in bulk and do not allow for high-resolution examination of the cell-to-cell heterogeneity and viral population diversity required to predict and influence emergent behavior. Our overall goal is to understand the diversity of influenza A virus infection at the single cell level to predict viral evolution and understand population dynamics associated with infectivity, replication and transmission. Using drop-based microfluidics, emulsion drops with volumes ranging from picoliters to nanoliters can be created and assayed at extremely high-throughput rates, up to thousands per second. Here, drop-based microfluidics will be presented as a cutting-edge method for probing heterogeneous viral populations at the single-cell level.

Bio: Connie B. Chang is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Montana State University. Her laboratory is affiliated with the Center for Biofilm Engineering. Chang is a graduate of Wellesley College and received her Ph.D. in 2008 from the University of California, Los Angeles. She was a postdoctoral scholar at Harvard University in physics and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences from 2008-2013.Her research interests include soft matter, complex fluids, biomaterials and drop-based microfluidics applied to viruses and bacterial biofilms. 

Host: Allon Hochbaum