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