COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 24, 2008 - Christopher A. Voigt, assistant professor at the University of California's San Francisco Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, will discuss his research Friday, March 28, as part of the Spring 2008 J. D. Lindsay Lecture Series at Texas A&M University.

His presentation "Programming Bacteria: From Toy Systems to Applications" is scheduled from 3-4 p.m. in Rm. 106 of the Jack E. Brown Building and is sponsored by Texas A&M's Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering.

Voigt's research focuses on programming cells to perform complex, coordinated tasks for pharmaceutical and industrial applications. His laboratory is engineering new sensors that give bacteria the senses of touch, sight and smell. In addition, he is developing theoretical tools from statistical mechanics and non-linear dynamics to understand how to combine genetic devices and predict their collective behavior.

As part of his research, Voigt has engineered a strain of bacteria that can invade tumors. Such bacteria could potentially be used to deliver cancer-treating drugs into the cells and kill them. He's also developed a lawn of E. coli that reacts like a strip of film - turning white where light was shone and black where it wasn't.This "living camera" uses light to switch on genes in a genetically modified bacterium that then cause an image-recording chemical to darken.

Voigt earned his doctorate in biochemistry and biophysics from the California Institute of Technology in 2002 after attending the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor where he received his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering. After obtaining his doctorate, Voigt worked at University of California-Berkeley in the field of systems biology. In 2003, he started his own lab at UCSF, which focuses on problems in biotechnology and synthetic biology.

In 2007, Voigt was named a Packard Fellow by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. He also is a Sloan Fellow and has been honored as young innovator in the "2006 Technology Review 35." Voigt has received the National Science Foundation's CAREER Award as well as the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching. In addition, Voigt is a Pew Charitable Trusts Scholar.

In honor of Professor J.D. Lindsay, Texas A&M's first chemical engineering department head, the department established the Lindsay Lecture Series to bring speakers to the university. Coming from both industry and academia, the lecturers are recognized for their accomplishments in the practice, teaching and/or research of chemical engineering. The series also allows the lecturers several days for visiting the university and the department and for exchanging ideas on teaching and research objectives and methods.

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