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Angela Patterson

Speaker: Angela Patterson, doctoral student, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Montana State University

Date: Thursday, January 21, 2021
Time: 3:00 PM
Place: Webex
Title: CRISPR vs anti-CRISPR: The battle between bacteria and their viruses heats up

Summary

Patterson uses biophysical techniques to add to the understanding of how bacterial cells adapt to fight off viral infections and how viruses respond to these adaptive immune systems. CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) systems are adaptive immune systems found in bacteria and archaea which have gained a lot of attention lately for their ability to be used as gene editing tools. An exciting recent development in the field was the discovery of virus encoded anti-CRISPR proteins. The interplay between CRISPR and anti-CRISPR machinery highlights the battle between cells and viruses for control over infection and replication. In this talk, Patterson will show how these CRISPR systems specifically target and degrade invaders and how the invaders use the full range of thermodynamic options available to counterattack the CRISPR systems. Using carefully crafted biophysical experiments, Patterson has broken down the fight for control between bacteria and viruses into the fundamental rules of molecular engagement.

Patterson is the recipient of a 2019 Kopriva Graduate Fellowship.

About the Kopriva Science Seminar Series

Patterson's lecture is presented by the Kopriva Science Seminar Series, which is funded through an endowment created by Phil Kopriva, a 1957 microbiology graduate from MSU. Kopriva, who died in 2002, also created an endowment to fund the Kopriva Graduate Fellowship Program, which provides support and opportunities for graduate students in the College of Letters and Science, particularly in the biomedical sciences. The series features seminars by MSU graduate students, faculty members and guest speakers.