Anna Duraj-Thatte
- Research: Engineered Living Materials, Synthetic Biology, Biomaterials, Therapeutics
Ph.D., Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012
M.S., Molecular and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland 2006
B.S., Molecular and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland 2006
Experience
2021-present, Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg
2020-present, Co-founder Tantu Therapeutics Inc., Boston, MA
2020-2021, Research Affiliate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA
2013-2020, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA
Selected Major Awards
Grand Prize Winner of American National Science Foundation (NSF) Idea Machine Competition, 2020
Semifinalist of Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge, 2020
Deep Tech Pioneer, Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge, Paris, France
Program Focus
In my research group, we work in the emerging and exciting field of Engineered Living Materials, wherein we integrate synthetic biology, bioengineering, nanotechnology, protein engineering, sustainability and materials engineering to develop SMART Living Materials that are Self-regenerative, Multifunctional, Adaptive, Responsive and Therapeutic. We employ synthetic biology principles to engineer microbes to produce materials on demand with desired physical, chemical, and biological properties. Our ultimate goal is to utilize microbes as factories to produce new and advanced sustainable materials in a large scale for various biotechnological and biomedical applications. We are also committed to developing smart materials for the treatment of chronic and life-threatening health conditions that cannot be addressed effectively with traditional approaches.
Selected Journals
- Avinash MB, Duraj-Thatte A, Joshi N, “Mechanically Tunable, Compostable, Healable and Scalable Engineered Living Materials”. Nature Communications 2024 in press
- Bai X, Huang Z, Duraj-Thatte A, Ebert M, Zhang F, Burgermeister E, Liu X, Scott B, Li G, Zuo T “Engineering the gut microbiome. Nature Review Bioengineering, 2023 1, 665–679
doi.org/10.1038/s44222-023-00072-2 - Duraj-Thatte A, Avinash MB, Hassan S, Sourlis A, Xia J, Lesha A, Rubio AG, Rutledge J, Zhang SY, Joshi NS “Programmable Microbial Ink for 3D Printing of Living Materials” Nature Communications, 2021,12,6600, doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26791-x
- Duraj-Thatte A*, Avinash MB *, Dorval Courchesne NM*, Cannici G, Sánchez-Ferrer A, Frank BP, van 't Hag L, Fairbrother DH, Mezzenga R, Joshi NS “Water-Processable, Biodegradable and Coatable Aquaplastic from Engineered Microbial Biofilms”, Nature Chemical Biology 2021 17 (6), 732-738, doi.org/10.1038/s41589-021-00773-y
- Praveschotinunt P, Duraj-Thatte A, Gelfat I, Bahl F, Chou DB, Joshi NS “Engineered E. coli Nissle 1917 for the delivery of matrix-tethered therapeutic domains to the gut” Nature Communications 2019,10,5580, doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13336-6
- Duraj-Thatte A, Dorval Courchesne NM, Praveschotinunt P, Rutledge J, Lee Y, Karp JM, Joshi NS “Genetically programmable self-regenerating bacterial hydrogels” Advanced Materials 2019, 31(40), 1901826; doi.org/10.1002/adma.201901826
- Avinash MB, Duraj-Thatte A, Joshi NS, “Robust Self-regeneratable Stiff Living Material”, Advanced Functional Materials 2021, 31(19), 2010784,doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202010784