Belardi, Brian Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Arriving Spring 2021

Office:	CPE	Mailing Address:
Phone:	(512) 471-5238	The University of Texas at Austin
Fax:	(512) 471-7060	McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering
Email:	bdb@che.utexas.edu	200 E Dean Keeton St. Stop C0400
UT Mail:	C0400	Austin, TX 78712-1589

Research Areas: Biotechnology, Advanced Materials, Polymers & Nanotechnology

Research Group Website

Educational Qualifications

NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley (2014-20)
Ph.D., Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley (2014)
B.S., Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University (2008)

Courses Taught

CHE 317 Introduction to Chemical Engineering Analysis

Focus 

Molecular engineering, biotechnology, therapeutics and drug delivery, epithelial biology and extracellular matrix, post-translational modifications, synthetic cells and tissue, biophysics and biointerfaces

Research

Our research focuses on probing, perturbing, and re-programming biological barriers across length scales. Biological barriers, which include cellular assemblies like the blood-brain barrier and the intestinal lining of the gut as well as molecular assemblies like the extracellular matrix and the cell membrane, pose significant impediments to drug bioavailability and often deteriorate and reorganize in pathological conditions, such as cancer and inflammatory bowel diseases. We develop new approaches to gain mechanistic insight into normal and diseased tissue biology and construct new reagents, probes, and materials that disrupt and repair biological barriers. To accomplish this, our multidisciplinary lab combines expertise in engineering, chemistry, and biology to tackle these major biomedical challenges. Some areas of current interest are i) modulating epithelial permeability, ii) detecting extracellular matrix modifications and assembly state, iii) constructing synthetic cells, matrix and tissue as implant materials, and iv) controlling membrane interfaces and cellular mechanics. Our lab prides itself on being an inclusive and supportive environment for training, innovation, and discovery. If you would like to join our efforts or learn more about our work, please don’t hesitate to contact Prof. Belardi.

Awards & Honors

NIH Ruth L. Kirchstein NRSA Fellowship (2015)

Young Investigator Award, University of Alberta Glycomics Centre (2014)

Summer Institute for Preparing Future Faculty Fellow (2014)

Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award (2009)

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (2009)

College Chemistry Award, Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh (2008)

Andrew Carnegie Society Scholar (2008)

Selected Publications

• Belardi, B.*, Hamkins-Indik, T.*, Harris, A.R., Fletcher, D.A. “A Weak Link with Actin Organizes Tight Junctions to Control Epithelial Permeability.” Dev. Cell. Accepted. bioRxiv 2019.
• Belardi, B., Son, S., Felce, J.H., Dustin, M.L., Fletcher, D.A. “Cell-Cell Interfaces as Specialized Compartments Directing Cell Function.” Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. Accepted.
• Son, S., Takatori, S.C., Belardi, B., Podolski, M., Bakalar, M.H., Fletcher, D.A. “Molecular Height Measurement by Cell Surface Optical Profilometry (CSOP).” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2020, 117, 14209.
• Harris, A.R., Belardi, B., Jreij, P., Wei, K., Shams, H., Bausch, A., Fletcher, D.A. “Steric Regulation of Tandem Calponin Homology Domain Actin-Binding Affinity.” Mol. Biol. Cell. 2019, 30, 3112.
• Belardi, B., Son, S., Vahey, M.D., Wang, J., Hou, J., Fletcher, D.A. “Claudin-4 Reconstituted in Unilamellar Vesicles is Sufficient to Form Tight Interfaces that Partition Membrane Proteins.” J. Cell Sci. 2019, 132, jcs221556.
• Belardi, B., Fletcher, D.A. “One and One is Not Two: Taking a Fresh Look at Membrane Interfaces.” Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 2018, 19, 747.
• Bhat, R.*, Belardi, B.*, Mori, H., Kuo, P., Tam, A., Hines, W.C., Le, Q., Bertozzi C.R., Bissell, M.J. “Nuclear Repartitioning of Galectin-1 by an Extracellular Glycan Switch Regulates Mammary Morphogenesis.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2016, 113, E4820.
• Hudak, J.E.*, Belardi, B.*, Appel, M.J., Solania, A., Robinson, P.V., Bertozzi C.R. “Piperidine-based Glycodendrons as Protein N-glycan Prosthetics.” Bioorg. Med. Chem. 2016, 24, 4791.
• Belardi, B., Bertozzi C.R. “Chemical Lectinology: Tools for Probing the Ligands and Dynamics of Mammalian Lectins In Vivo.” Chem. Biol. 2015, 22, 983.
• Belardi, B., de la Zerda, A., Spiciarich, D.R., Maund, S.L., Peehl, D.M., Bertozzi, C.R. “Imaging the Glycosylation State of Cell Surface Glycoproteins with Two-photon Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 14045.
• Belardi, B., O’Donoghue, G.P., Smith, A.S., Groves, J.T., Bertozzi, C.R. “Investigating Cell Surface Galectin-Mediated Cross-linking on Glycoengineered Cells.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 9549.
• Stoffelbach, F., Belardi, B., Santos, J.M.R.C.A., Tessier, L., Matyjaszewski, K., Charleux, B. “Use of an Amphiphilic Block Copolymer as a Stabilizer and a Macroinitiator in Miniemulsion Polymerization under AGET ATRP Conditions.” Macromolecules 2007, 40, 8813.