Jaimie Marie Stewart, an assistant professor of bioengineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, has received a Sloan Matter-to-Life Seed Grant in the research area of Building Life from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Her project proposes to build synthetic RNA condensates that isothermally self-assemble during transcription and encapsulate an artificial genome for localized reactions, feedback regulation, and communication. Upon the successful completion of this project will elucidate principles of the biophysics and design rationale to develop RNA condensates as dynamic synthetic cells.
Sloan’s Matter-to-Life program is dedicated to enhancing our scientific comprehension of life by endorsing inquisitive research in three focus areas: Building Life, Principles of Life, and Signs of Life. These areas define an expansive scientific framework for understanding the fundamental physical principles and mechanisms that govern living systems, while also embracing the exploration of life in a more inclusive sense by embodying the unique functions of living systems in constructs created from various materials. The overarching objective of the program is to initiate new avenues of research that will ultimately illuminate both the physical attributes that set life apart and the processes that guide the complexification of matter towards life.
Stewart joined the UCLA faculty in July 2023 and leads the Programmable RNA Materials Laboratory. Her research harnesses the structural and functional programmability of RNA for the design and synthesis of RNA materials that are robust, stimuli-responsive, and bioactive. Her work ultimately aims to understand RNA self-assembly for the development of molecular sensors and therapeutics.
Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the California Institute of Technology. She completed a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of California, Riverside, and a B.S. in Bioengineering with a concentration in cell and tissue engineering and a minor in Italian from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Stewart serves as the RNA Editor for the textbook Art of Molecular Programming and Co-Chair of Program Committee for the International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming.
She has earned recognition as an Intersections Science Fellow and a Stanford.Berkeley.UCSF Next Generation Faculty Fellow. She has received several awards, including the Life Sciences Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship sponsored by Merck, the Ford Postdoctoral Fellowship, and Kavli Nanoscience Institute Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship.