Program

Session descriptions follow and please scroll down for the workshop schedule.

Sessions:

Applications of Molecular Systems Engineering for Global Health Equity
Molecular systems engineering has delivered new vaccine and therapeutic strategies across the fields of infectious disease, cancer, and gene therapies. For example, the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved gene editing products are for sickle cell anemia, but the cost and cell manufacturing footprint make for daunting translation to Africa where 60% of children with sickle cell disease reside. Another example is the engineering of long-acting drug delivery systems that have a special potential impact for patient populations whose health care is obstructed by poor access and other obstacles. This session will provide some working examples of newer molecular engineering being conducted from this global health equity viewpoint, including engineering that addresses design pressures of cost, manufacturing, and molecular/colloidal stability to make therapeutics more equitably available and to help a wider patient swath across our planet.

Applications of Molecular Systems Engineering to Immunology and Immunoengineering
The immune system, a complex network of molecular agents, cells, organs, and physiological structures, must work in concert to defend the body against infections of all types, as well as against cancer, while leaving healthy cells unaffected. While scientists have learned a tremendous amount about how the immune system works, many challenges remain. This session will address how immunoengineering is becoming an increasingly powerful way to not only understand the immune system, but also to manipulate, stimulate, and eventually control it to address conditions across the globe ranging from cancer and infections to allergies and auto-immune diseases.

Applications of Molecular Systems Engineering to Understanding Phase Separation in Biology
Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of macromolecules is increasingly seen as relevant to diverse biological functions and origins of life. Molecular systems engineering approaches are providing new insights into structure-function relationships in biology and into possible origin of life mechanisms. This session will provide insights from these areas of research that can enable reverse engineering of biology for possible therapeutic and clinical applications for humanity.

Applications of Molecular Systems Engineering to Understanding Matter to Life
Our understanding of the physical world is impressive. It includes detailed knowledge about the history of the universe and a comprehensive understanding of the building blocks of matter. Despite these advances, we don’t yet have a comparably deep understanding of how those building blocks lead to life and organisms. This session will explore molecular engineering advancements that seek answers to how life can emerge from an information-processing matter system.

Applications of Molecular Systems Engineering for Food Security and Sustainability
Molecular Systems Engineering is transforming food science and technology by relating molecular-level insight and design to multiscale structure-property relations and functional performance. In precision fermentation, Molecular Systems Engineering has facilitated the development of alternative food proteins, such as plant proteins and microbial caseins, which is an essential steppingstone toward animal-free dairy products and other future foods with a reduced ecological footprint. Molecular Systems Engineering offers the mechanical insights that are pivotal for ingredient substitution and the development of novel strategies for food packaging, storage, structuration, and stabilization to optimize food quality, shelf-life, nutrient uptake, and control satiation/satiety. This session will address the diversity of ways in which Molecular Systems Engineering facilitates world efforts to reengineer our favorite foods for improved global health and well-being, food security, and sustainability.

Applications of Molecular Systems Engineering for Water Security
Molecular systems engineering provides ingenious, and potentially disruptive solutions, to address challenges of water scarcity, access and equity. These range from water desalination, treatment, and purification to sanitation and conservation, as well as also sensing and monitoring technologies, and reuse and adaptation approaches, with profound geopolitical consequences for present and future generations. In this session, we will explore how the design and engineering of materials and systems across scales can yield highly selective and efficient separations at acceptable energy and capital costs. As water access and challenges differ across the globe, we will focus on innovative molecular engineering approaches able to deliver low cost and dependable technologies, compatible with fragile the water-energy-food nexus at the heart of sustainable and equitable development.

Applications of Molecular Systems Engineering for the Energy Transition
To achieve the necessary development of new, more sustainable sources of energy that will meet human needs without compromising the future, it is necessary to design innovative molecular systems capable of overcoming the challenges inherent in these technologies. Some of these challenges relate to the sustainability of electrical energy storage: lithium batteries must offer increased capacity and safety, for example, through self-repairing properties. The yield of photovoltaic cells needs to be increased by structuring them as systems with reduced dimensionality, such as 2D shells or nanowires. Fuel cell science needs more efficient electrodes, including for the production of hydrogen from water or other renewable sources. Finally, less conventional energies, such as osmotic energy, can be exploited. This session will address how Molecular Systems Engineering is advancing the Energy Transition.

Molecular Engineering Design and Manufacturing
This session will discuss how Molecular Systems Engineering is transforming advanced manufacturing by integrating molecular-level design with macroscale applications, leveraging principles from chemistry, physics, and engineering to create innovative materials and processes. Computer-Aided Molecular Design (CAMD) has enabled the exploration of unprecedented chemical and phase spaces, building upon advanced numerical and simulation methods, optimized against multi-objectives (including economic, manufacturability, performance, and sustainability criteria). Coupling of digital and experimental workflows has enabled the identification of Pareto fronts in complex optimization problems that have been translated to industry, including in pharmaceutical manufacturing, solvent design and process optimization. Molecular Systems Engineering has also enabled the fabrication and manipulation of complex micro- and nanostructures, delivering functional biomimetic materials and tailored tissue scaffolds for regenerative medicine, as well as advanced soft materials with self-healing and adaptive properties, applicable across various fields from aerospace to healthcare. As Molecular Systems Engineering evolves, it can address global challenges such as sustainable energy and personalized medicine with the integration of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence promising to unlock new frontiers in advanced manufacturing.

Please note: All sessions and meals will take place at the meeting venue (except on Sunday) and are included in the registration fee. Participants will be on their own to explore dinner in Paris on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.