Vatsan Raman on Protein Allostery and Bacteriophages

In this episode, I speak with Vatsan Raman. Vatsan is an assistant professor in the department of biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Vatsan's research spans a wide variety of areas: this ranges from fundamental questions such as deciphering the mechanisms of protein allostery to tackling real world problems such as engineering bacteriophages more effectively and efficiently.  


(00:18) -- overview of Vatsan’s lab
(02:00) -- protein allostery overview
(06:25) -- experimental framework for studying allostery 
(09:05) -- key results of allostery experiments 
(11:50) -- allosteric behavior in other protein families
(12:45) -- going beyond single mutation restoration experiments 
(13:32) -- challenges and opportunities of bacteriophages
(14:50) -- deep mutational scanning for engineering bacteriophages 
(18:06) -- translatability of phage therapy 
(20:43) -- bacteriophages in space
(22:38) -- influence of Vatsan’s mentors
(24:03) -- big vs. small labs
(26:32) -- qualities of a good synthetic biologist