Molecular and Cellular Engineering uses engineering principles to understand and construct cellular and molecular circuits with useful properties. At the molecular level, proteins can be engineered to elicit specific ligand-receptor interactions, which can then be used for the rational design of targeted drug therapies. At the cellular level, metabolic engineering can create cellular biosensors that can monitor the environment for toxins or other specific molecules. Molecular and Cellular engineering can also be used to enhance the cellular production of pharmaceuticals, the delivery of beneficial genes to a particular cell type, and the production of tissues or tissue matrices for therapeutic purposes. This area of research also promises to help the scientific community unlock the mysteries of cellular metabolism, and how alterations in metabolism can lead to a myriad of human disease processes.

Research at Stanford in this area includes:

Cell-free reproduction of subcellular processes such as protein synthesis, protein folding and the generation and utilization of ATP
Development of industrially relevant methods of synthesizing biocatalysts, biopolymers, and other bioactive proteins
Application of genetic modification and combinatorial biosynthesis techniques to the production of novel polyketides, from which many pharmaceutical products are derived
Mechanobiology of cartilage and bone cells
Directed evolution and molecular design techniques to develop proteins with specific biological functions

Bioengineering faculty members working in this area are

Jennifer Cochran
Karl Deisseroth
Christopher Jacobs (or see the Jacobs Lab Page)
James Swartz (or see the Swartz Lab Page)
Steve Quake