Andrew D. Ellington | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1956 (age 68–69) Missouri, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Michigan State University (B.S., 1981); Harvard University (Ph.D., 1988) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biochemistry, Synthetic biology |
| Institutions | University of Texas at Austin; Indiana University Bloomington |
| Doctoral advisor | Stephen C. Harrison |
Andrew D. Ellington (born 1956) is an American biochemist and synthetic biologist who is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds the Wilson M. and Kathryn Fraser Professorship in Biochemistry at UT Austin and was selected as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Professor in 2017. [1] Ellington is best known for his work on in vitro selection techniques and is credited with coining the term "aptamer" to describe nucleic acid molecules that bind specific targets. [2] [3] His laboratory's research spans directed evolution, nucleic acid engineering, and synthetic biology, including the development of aptamers, ribozymes, and diagnostic biosensors.
Ellington was born in 1959 in Missouri. [4] He developed an early interest in science and went on to attend Michigan State University, where he earned a B.S. in biochemistry in 1981. [5] He then pursued graduate studies at Harvard University, receiving his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology in 1988. During his Ph.D., he worked with chemist Steven A. Benner on theories of molecular evolution. [4] Following graduate school, Ellington carried out postdoctoral research in Szostak's lab at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where he performed the experiments that led to the discovery of aptamers via in vitro selection techniques. [5]
In 1992, Ellington began his independent academic career as a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at Indiana University Bloomington, where he continued to develop methods for the selection of functional nucleic acids. [4] He moved to the University of Texas at Austin in 1998 as an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry. [4] At UT Austin, he was later promoted to full professor and named the Fraser Professor of Biochemistry. He also became a founding member of the university's Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology. In 2017, Ellington was one of fourteen scientists nationwide selected by HHMI to receive an HHMI Professors award aimed at improving undergraduate science education. [1]
Beyond his academic roles, Ellington has been active in translating his research into practice. He has co-founded biotechnology companies, including Archemix and B3 Biosciences, to commercialize aptamer technologies and other applications of synthetic biology. [6] He has also collaborated with industry and defense agencies; for example, he worked with an Austin-based startup, Paratus Diagnostics, to develop portable diagnostic devices for detecting diseases from saliva or urine samples. [7]
Ellington's research integrates directed evolution and synthetic biology to engineer functional biopolymers and organisms. Early in his career, working with Jack Szostak, he pioneered methods to evolve RNA molecules that bind specific ligands from random sequences. In a significant 1990 paper, Ellington and Szostak demonstrated the in vitro selection of RNA aptamers (a term they introduced) that could specifically bind to organic dyes. [8]
Building on aptamer technology, Ellington's laboratory has also developed allosteric ribozymes (aptazymes) that act as molecular switches, offering potential applications in genetic circuitry and biosensing. [3] His work has extended to evolving enzymes with enhanced stability and novel functions and engineering microorganisms with expanded genetic codes (e.g., "unColi"), paving the way for the production of proteins with novel properties. [3]
An application of Ellington's research is in the development of point-of-care diagnostic devices. His lab has created low-cost, paper-based diagnostic tests for infectious diseases such as Ebola and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, employing engineered nucleic acid circuits that generate a visible color change upon target detection. [7]
Throughout his career, Ellington has published over 200 research articles and holds numerous patents related to aptamer selection methods, biosensors, and synthetic biology technologies. [9]
Three University of Texas at Austin professors have been selected by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to join the ranks of HHMI Professors.
The resulting ligands were coined 'aptamers'... by Andy Ellington and Jack Szostak in independent work.
Ellington coined the terms 'aptamer' and 'aptazyme' to reflect new classes of molecules that he helped invent.
In 1988 he earned his PhD from Harvard University, where he pursued research in the lab of Stephen C. Harrison...
Dr. Andrew Ellington received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Michigan State University in 1981, and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard in 1988. His post-doctoral work was with Dr. Jack W. Szostak at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he... coined the term 'aptamer.'
Dr. Ellington was previously a recipient of the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator, Cottrell, and Pew Scholar Awards.
Ellington is now working with Paratus Diagnostics, which is also based in Austin, to commercialise this technology in devices that can diagnose illnesses from RNA or small molecules in saliva or urine.
Professor Andrew Ellington at the University of Texas-Austin was awarded for his work on 'synthetic biology,' which aims to develop biological software that makes use of man-made genetically augmented proteins.