Guest Speakers
2024
Sara Molinari
Assistant Professor, University of Maryland
Dr. Sara Molinari graduated from the Systems, Synthetic and Physical Biology Ph.D.
program at Rice University with a thesis on programming differentiation in bacteria. This work, fully funded by the DARPA Engineered Living Materials program that initiated the field, enabled the creation of a novel pattern formation by physically separating genetically distinct cells. As a postdoctoral researcher in Caroline Ajo-Franklin’s lab, she created the first de novo macroscopic living material that grows from engineered bacteria. This work presents the only genetically encoded synthetic matrix that hierarchically assembles cells over four orders of magnitude and allows the genetic control of ELM mechanical and catalytic properties. Leveraging her expertise in cell and matrix engineering, in her laboratory in the Department of Bioengineering at The University of Maryland College Park she develops engineered living materials with tailored biological and mechanical properties for biomedical applications. Sara is a full member of the Sigma Xi scientific research honor society. Last year, she was an invited speaker at the Distinguished Young Scholar Seminar (UWDYSS), the 2022 BME UNITE Future Faculty Webinar, the SynBYSS seminar series, and ACS Spring 2023.
Manish Kushwaha
Manish Kushwaha is a Research Director at the Micalis Institute, University of Paris-Saclay, where he co-leads the Cellular Computing Group. His lab applies experimental and theoretical methods to the design of biological systems across scales: in cell-free expression systems, in bacterial cells of diverse species, and in bacterial co-cultures. Manish is originally from India, where he studied Life Sciences with a focus in Microbiology. He did his doctoral research in Molecular Parasitology at the University of Oxford, studying chromatin remodelling in African trypanosomes. Later, he transitioned to Synthetic Biology during his postdoctoral research in the labs of Howard Salis (PennState) and Alfonso Jaramillo (Warwick). Since 2017, he has been working at the Micalis Institute, INRAE (the French national lab for Agriculture, Food, and Environment).
Research Director, Micalis Institute
Morgan Richards
Product and Tokenomics Lead, ValleyDAO
Entrepreneur/scientist interested in utilising decentralised models to finance, acquire and govern academic and industrial biotechnology IP, with the aim of accelerating translational research and maximising world impact.
David Truong
Assistant Professor, New York University
David Truong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at NYU Tandon School of Engineering, and associated faculty in the Department of Pathology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He received a B.S. from University of California, San Diego, a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin, and NRSA F32-supported postdoctoral training with Dr. Jef D. Boeke at NYU Langone Health. Prior to starting his research group, he was a founding team member of Neochromosome Inc (later acquired by Opentrons Robotics) with support of an NIAID small business innovative research award. He has been honored with a Delil Nasser Award by the Genetics Society and a DP2 New Innovator award/grant from NIAID. The Truong lab combines site-specific “bigDNA” genome writing in human iPSCs with cell state programming and synthetic genetic circuits to build off-the-shelf generic “smart cells” for therapeutics, diagnostics, and modeling. His group focuses primarily on the neuro-immune axis.
Xiaojun Tian
Associate Professor, Arizona State University
Dr. Tian is an Associate Professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering at Arizona State University. He is dedicated to closely integrating mathematical modeling and quantitative experiments to tackle fundamental challenges at the crossroads of quantitative systems biology and synthetic biology. Currently, his lab focuses on understanding and controlling the interactions between synthetic gene circuits and host cells, with the ultimate goal of fortifying the robustness of these circuits. Dr. Tian's contributions have been acknowledged through prestigious awards, including the NIH Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) and the NSF Career Award.
Alexander Fedorec
Alex is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Biosciences at University College London, UK. His research broadly involves applying computational and mathematical techniques to understand and engineer new biological systems. In particular, his work focuses on creating stable and predictable synthetic microbial communities in complex environments, such as the gastrointestinal tract. He is especially interested in biotherapeutic and bioindustrial applications of biological engineering. He had a background in computer science and industrial experience as a software engineer before starting on the path to becoming a synthetic biologist.
Assistant Professor, University College London
Ilenne Del Valle
Associate Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Jamie Spangler
Dr. Jamie Spangler earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and went on to earn a PhD in Biological Engineering at MIT. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Spangler launched her independent research group at Johns Hopkins University in July 2017, jointly between the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. Her lab, located in the Translational Tissue Engineering Center at the School of Medicine, applies structural and mechanistic insights to re-engineer existing proteins and design new proteins that therapeutically modulate the immune response. In particular, her group is interested in engineering immune molecules such as cytokines, growth factors, and antibodies for targeted treatment of diseases such as cancer and autoimmune disorders.
Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University
Elena Rosca
Senior Lecturer, Ashesi University
My research interests lie in how to use principles of synthetic biology to solve some of the problems facing the African continent. Synthetic biology allows us to engineer organisms which can address problems such as plastic degradation, development of biosensors for different disease and applications, produce precursors for medicines such as malaria drugs and many others. Previously I have worked on using biologically inspired concepts to optimize cancer therapies and diagnosis. Currently, I am particularly interested in how to optimize and implement such approaches and research in Africa, by developing cost effective, non-invasive and efficient therapies and biosensors. In addition, using mathematical modelling coupled with biology, my group works on developing models which will give us insights on critical parameters and allows us to analyze complex situations to understand how fundamental principles underpin them. I am particularly fascinated by how to use the complexity and connectivity of the immune system in the context of cancer and other tropical diseases such as malaria to build a specific and personalized treatment.
Justyn Jaworski
Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Arlington
Justyn Jaworski is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. He completed his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering at Boston University, and he received his PhD in Bioengineering through the UC Berkeley-UCSF Graduate Program. He conducted his post-doctoral training at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the Medical Research Council in England and then moved to South Korea where he served as an Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering at Hanyang University from 2011–2016 before joining the University of Texas at Arlington in 2017. His lab has been active in engineering peptides, proteins, and bacteriophage for use as biomedical research tools. In addition to his research activities, Dr. Jaworski serves as the program director for the UT Arlington Clinical Immersion Program to provide bioengineering students with experiential learning opportunities to solve real-world healthcare challenges.
Duhan Toparlak
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Oxford
Duhan obtained his chemical engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY, USA) as a Fulbright Scholar. He then completed his Ph.D. in late 2019 at the University of Trento, Italy, under the supervision of Sheref Mansy. In his doctoral studies, he focused on the problems about the chemical origins of life and replicating protocells, working with Jack Szostak of Harvard University and Ram Krishnamurthy of The Scripps Research Institute. During this time, Duhan also synthesized the first artificial cells that can communicate with neurons, as a proof-of-concept smart drug-delivery system. Following a brief period at Yale, working on chemistry of RNA, he joined Hagan Bayley’s group in Oxford University Chemistry Department as a postdoctoral fellow in 2022, supported by Human Frontier Science Program and Marie-Curie Fellowships. His current research focuses on single-molecule chemistry, functional nanopores for catalysis, and template-directed peptide synthesis, building on his prior work in synthetic biology and in vitro evolution.
Tae Seok Moon
Associate Professor, Washington University in St. Louis
Tae Seok Moon is an EBRC (Engineering Biology Research Consortium) council member and a SynBYSS (Synthetic Biology Young Speaker Series) chair. He has expertise in systems and synthetic biology. He aims to solve global agricultural, environmental, manufacturing, and health problems through engineering biology. His research projects have been supported by Gates Foundation, AIChE, and 13 governmental funding agencies (26 external grants), and he has secured >$10M ($38M for the entire teams since 7/1/2012). These projects and his prior research efforts have resulted in 89 publications (78 as the PI), 167 invited talks, 170 contributed conference presentations, and 10 patents. His achievements have also been recognized with many awards, including a Langer Prize for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Excellence, a B&B Daniel I.C. Wang Award, an NSF CAREER award, an ONR Young Investigator Award, a John C. Sluder Fellowship (MIT), an ILJU Foundation Award, an LG Chemical Fellowship, and the SNU President Prize.
About Myself: Hi, I'm Kato Sebunya Emma, the Founder of the SynBio4ALL Africa initiative. Our mission is to promote synthetic biology across Africa with a focus on enhancing SynBio literacy, fostering bioeconomy growth, advocating for biosafety and biosecurity, and championing the rights of underrepresented groups. Based in Africa, we collaborate with the Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC) to offer online synthetic biology lectures for African students. Recently, we completed our beginner's course and are gearing up to launch the intermediate course. Our "Guest Speaker" events feature international synthetic biology leaders who inspire and provide opportunities for our community. We also mentor SynBio teams and facilitate networking with the global synthetic biology community, connecting African students with biotech companies and academic institutions worldwide for internships and other opportunities. My motivation stems from the desire to see Africa reach the same heights in SynBio as America and Europe. Synthetic biology not only addresses community challenges but also offers employment and learning opportunities crucial for our continent's development.