Abstract
   Inflammation occurs when chemokines are secreted at a site of injury or infection, mediating a buildup of immune cells. As such, inhibiting chemokines in some cases could be an appealing target to control inflammation. Many viruses have evolved strategies to subvert human chemokine system by producing chemokine binding proteins. Among them, poxviruses encode vCCI (viral CC chemokine inhibitor), which has been shown to bind more than 80 different CC chemokines across multiple organisms. Therefore, understanding the mechanism of the high binding affinity between vCCI and CC chemokines could pave the way to develop vCCI as a new therapeutic candidate to treat inflammation related disease. Our work involves engineering both vCCI and its chemokine binding partners to improve affinity and specificity. We study these complexes using biophysical techniques such as fluorescence and biolayer interferometry.
   
   Silk fibroin (SF) has been recognized as a material with medical use for centuries. With excellent biocompatibility, silk fibroin has become a popular biomaterial in tissue engineering, drug delivery, and surgery. In addition, silk fibroin can be developed into a variety of shape with multiple structures, such as 3D porous scaffolds, films, patches, etc. In this study, we investigated and improved the adhesive property of SF scaffold to wet tissue with the addition of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and glycerol and realized the sustained release of an anti-HIV protein Griffithsin.

Biography
   Wenyan Guan is a Ph.D. candidate in the Materials and Biomaterials Science and Engineering (MBSE) graduate program at the University of California, Merced. Prior to that, she completed her BS in Applied Chemistry from Southwest University for Nationalities and her MS in Bioengineering from East China University of Science and Technology. Her research mainly focuses on studying the interactions of CC chemokines and its inhibitor vCCI (viral CC chemokine inhibitor) and silk-based scaffolds for drug delivery.

Zoom Link

https://ucmerced.zoom.us/j/6963525265?pwd=TWtYc0YrS3NreFZKWXdtS1ovVVV0UT09