Wilfried Weber
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Wilfried Weber is Professor of Synthetic Biology at the University of Freiburg, Germany. Wilfried holds a diploma in biotechnology and, after a stay at Novartis Pharma, he joined Martin Fussenegger at ETH Zurich where he earned his PhD and started building up his research group.
Wilfried’s research focuses on combining synthetic biology with materials sciences to develop genetic switches and smart polymer systems to program mammalian cells by providing intracellular and extracellular cell-instructive cues. Wilfried is co-inventor of several patent applications and co-founder of the spin-off company Bioversys.
Plant and bacterial photoreceptors represent highly suitable tools for designing and constructing optically triggered switches for controlling genetic and biochemical processes in mammalian cells. We will show how these tools can be used to control mammalian cell function, either by applying genetically encoded optical tools or by synthesizing light-responsive extracellular matrices. We will show the latest generation of multi-chromatic expression control technology for the differential activation of up to three genes by illumination with light of different color. Capitalizing on these light-triggered photoreceptors we will show approaches for synthesizing biohybrid materials that serve as light-controlled adjustable extracellular matrix for providing mechanical and biochemical cues to mammalian cells. We will demonstrate how such synthetic biology-inspired biohybrid materials can be used for the remote-controlled administration of drugs at the example of one-injection-based vaccination regimes.
