https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/jose-sanchez/index.htmlWolf B, Mathony J, Niopek D. Bioswitches: Towards programmable, on-demand control of therapeutic proteins. Clin Transl Med. 2026 Feb;16(2):e70612. doi: 10.1002/ctm2.70612. PMID: 41630504; PMCID: PMC12865224. About me My name is Jose Sanchez, 27. I’ve lived in the Rogers Park Area in Chicago with my wife for a few years and have loved it. I am passionate about citizen science, community and organizing. I graduated UChicago BA 2021 Biological Sciences. I currently work in the biotech space as a technical sales professional.Hugoenhttps://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/jose-sanchez/week-01-hw-project-ideas/index.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/jose-sanchez/week-01-hw-project-ideas/index.htmlHTBAA Homework #1 (1) What I would like to biomanufacture and why My long-term vision is an allosteric “Bioswitch” version of an immune checkpoint inhibitor: pembrolizumab (Keytruda) that can be turned off on demand using light, to address chronic immune-related adverse effects associated with checkpoint blockade therapy. As Wolf, Mathony, and Niopek (Heidelberg University) describe in their 2026 Clinical and Translational Medicine invited letter, “Bioswitches: Towards programmable, on-demand control of therapeutic proteins,” most protein therapeutics act continuously for as long as they remain in the body, and “adverse effects such as off-target activity and toxicity may arise in consequence of prolonged drug activity and are difficult to mitigate once a patient has received the therapeutic” [1]. A light-switchable checkpoint inhibitor could shut off the inhibitor if severe adverse effects are observed without waiting for the drug to clear naturally.https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/jose-sanchez/week-02-hw-dna-design/index.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/jose-sanchez/week-02-hw-dna-design/index.htmlHTBAA Homework #2 Due: Tuesday September 29, by 2:30p ET In Homework #1 you proposed what to biomanufacture. In this assignment you design the DNA that makes it, the actual genetic construct, using Kernel, Asimov’s computer-aided genetic design software. You will take the product and living system you proposed and turn them into a concrete expression design: the biological parts, the assembled construct, and the sequence-level decisions a lab would need to order and build it. Along the way you will run Kernel’s design tools and reason about how your construct would actually be synthesized and assembled. Your goal is to move from concept to sequence and to make, and defend, a real design choice at each layer. You are not expected to produce a perfect, lab-ready plasmid. Where you have to guess, guess reasonably and say so.https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/jose-sanchez/final-project/index.htmlMon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/jose-sanchez/final-project/index.html