Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Wade Zeno joined USC in Fall 2020 and his lab focuses on understanding and engineering biological membranes. These types of membranes are composed primarily of lipids and proteins and are abundant in cells, where they serve as critical interfaces for the biochemical interactions that regulate cellular behavior and function. Understanding and controlling biomolecular interactions that occur at membranes is challenging owing to the inherent ability of the membrane environment to functionally couple interactions between proteins and lipids. Nonetheless, elucidating the interplay between proteins and lipids in biological membranes is important for a variety of applications such as pinpointing the mechanisms of disease, discovering and delivering new drugs, and developing functional biomaterials. Toward addressing these challenges, I am using engineering principles and fluorescence techniques to develop the tools, approaches, and ideas that will enable us to understand and control the protein-lipid interface.