People
James Swartz
JAMES H. CLARK PROFESSOR IN THE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND PROFESSOR OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING AND OF BIOENGINEERING
Professor Swartz received his first lessons in resourcefulness and persistence growing up on a farm in South Dakota. After earning a BS in Chemical Engineering with Highest Honors from S. Dakota School of Mines and Technology, he began his professional career with Union Oil Co. of CA in Casper, Wyoming. Serving in the Drilling, Reservoir Engineering, and Production Departments provided an appreciation of the complexity and importance of large scale energy technologies. That experience also strengthened his belief that biological technologies offered the power and versatility to better address evolving societal needs. The MIT graduate programs in chemical engineering (MS) and biochemical engineering (Dsc) helped strengthen his biological training while broadening an appreciation for this emerging field. Following a 3 month exchange visit to the Soviet Union, he gained additional experience at Eli Lilly and participated in the development of the first recombinant DNA pharmaceutical to be approved, rDNA insulin. After two years, he moved to Genentech to help establish their drug production capability, developing the fermentation process for their first product, rDNA growth hormone.
After 17 years at Genentech in various line and project leadership positions, he joined the Stanford Chemical Engineering Department with a focus on an embryonic technology called cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS). Multiple technology breakthroughs from his lab motivated the founding of Sutro Biopharma which now has four promising anti-cancer drugs in clinical trials. A new company called Vaxcyte later spun out of Sutro to focus on complex human vaccines enabled by CFPS. Both companies are now publicly traded. Another company, GreenLight Biosciences, is focusing on inexpensive, large scale RNA production for use against agricultural pests. At Stanford, Professor Swartz is now focusing on expanding the basic capabilities of cell-free bioprocess while also developing technologies for targeted drug development, vaccines, circulating tumor cell assays, the carbon negative production of commodity biochemicals, and for economically attractive photosynthetic hydrogen production.
Anja Redecker, M.D.
Post-Doctoral Scholar
M.D., RWTH Aachen University, North Rhine-Westphalia (2021)
Anja Redecker attended medical school in Germany (RWTH Aachen). For her doctoral thesis - under the guidance of Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Lüscher – she studied the functions of a protein called ASH2L, which plays a role in tumorigenesis. She analyzed the effects of ASH2L domain deletion mutants on cell growth and histone trimethylation as well as targeted ASH2L fused to dCas9 to specific promoters and examined its effects on transcription activation.
Her current research in the Swartz Lab at Stanford University focusses on engineering Hepatitis B core virus-like particles (HBc VLP) for targeted delivery of chemotherapeutics and for vaccines. The envisioned targeting delivery system allows loading the HBc VLPs with chemotherapeutics and attaching targeting ligands like single chain antibody fragments to the HBc VLP surface. This would increase targeted accumulation of the chemotherapeutic at the tumor site and decrease therapy-limiting side effects by minimizing off-target effects. To combat any new pandemic efficiently, vaccines need to be engineered and produced quickly. This fast response can be made possible by using pre-produced HBc VLPs to which the antigen of the new circulating pathogen can be attached. This technology has the potential to curb the outbreak of a new pandemic.
Philip Smith
Life Science Research Professional II/ Lab Manager
B.S., California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, Biochemistry (2022)
Philip Smith obtained his B.S. in biochemistry from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo. As an undergraduate, under the guidance of Dr. Javin P. Oza, Philip optimized plasmid design and extract preparation for increasing cell-free protein synthesis yields. Additionally, Philip also worked in a polymer and materials lab where he focused on developing machine learning models to better predict what chemical characteristics can lead to chemical's volatility.
In the Swartz Lab, Philip has focused on producing succinic acid via cell-free expression. Additionally, he has aided in the engineering of the HBc VLPs by focusing on production of adducts needed to evade the immune system as well as target tumor sites.
So Young Choi, Ph.D.
Life Science Research Professional III
Ph.D., Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (2017)