Oradores invitados
2023
Kennedy Mcdaniels
Gerente de producto sénior en Opentrons
El Dr. McDaniels es un biooptimista con la convicción de que la biologÃa es el futuro de la tecnologÃa. Su carrera se ha centrado en desarrollar y lanzar productos en la intersección de biologÃa, software y hardware. Como parte de su misión de acelerar la bioeconomÃa, se centra en desarrollar herramientas que reduzcan el tiempo y el costo necesarios para la bioinnovación. Esto la llevó a Opentrons, donde está construyendo la infraestructura para permitir colaboraciones reproducibles entre biólogos.
Howard Salis
El Dr. Salis es profesor asociado en los departamentos de BioE y ChemE en Penn State. Su experiencia es en el diseño e ingenierÃa de sistemas genéticos en organismos microbianos con funciones especÃficas, combinando modelos predictivos con experimentos paralelos masivos, para diversas aplicaciones biotecnológicas. Los esfuerzos recientes incluyen una "Calculadora de promotores", un modelo termodinámico que predice las tasas de iniciación de la transcripción a partir de secuencias de ADN arbitrarias, y la ingenierÃa de bacterias del suelo para detectar explosivos dentro de los sistemas del suelo. Ha recibido el premio DARPA Young Faculty y el premio NSF CAREER por sus notables logros. Es el fundador de De Novo DNA, que ejecuta una plataforma de diseño ampliamente utilizada para la ingenierÃa de organismos, utilizada por más de 10000 investigadores para diseñar más de 900000 sistemas genéticos.
Profesor asociado
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.
Mariana Gómez Schavión
Profesor Asistente, Investigador Adjunto
La investigación de posgrado de la Dra. Gómez-Schiavon exploró cómo los organismos pueden usar la epigenética y la estocasticidad de la expresión génica para lidiar con entornos fluctuantes, centrándose en las propiedades y el surgimiento evolutivo de los interruptores biestables. Después de su Ph.D. estudios, durante su postdoctorado en el laboratorio de la Dra. Hana El-Samad en la U. de California en San Francisco, estudió los principios y limitaciones del control de retroalimentación celular. Actualmente, es lÃder de grupo en el Laboratorio Internacional para la Investigación del Genoma Humano, parte de la U. Nacional Autónoma de México, donde tiene como objetivo comprender cómo surgen, proliferan las propiedades dinámicas de los circuitos reguladores de genes. y persisten a través de la selección natural. Su trabajo combina teorÃa evolutiva, genética de poblaciones y modelos biofÃsicos de circuitos reguladores de genes. Su experiencia comprende el modelado matemático de circuitos reguladores de genes y dinámicas no lineales.
Becky Mackelprang
El Dr. Mackelprang lidera el Grupo de Trabajo de Seguridad de EBRC, reuniendo a las partes interesadas de la academia, la industria y el gobierno para integrar la conciencia de seguridad en la polÃtica y la práctica de la biologÃa de la ingenierÃa. Becky ha liderado el desarrollo de comentarios y recomendaciones sobre temas como la detección por parte de proveedores de ADN sintético, la seguridad durante la publicación de la investigación y la ética en la investigación en ingenierÃa y biologÃa. Ha implementado estrategias para incorporar la seguridad en la educación y formación de investigadores. Previamente, Becky fue becaria posdoctoral en polÃtica cientÃfica de EBRC, becaria de medios masivos de AAAS, investigadora posdoctoral en comunicación cientÃfica en UC Berkeley, y recibió su Ph.D. en BiologÃa Vegetal de UC Berkeley.
Director Asociado de Programas de Seguridad en el Consorcio de Investigación en BiologÃa de IngenierÃa
Aditya Kunjapur
Profesor Asistente, Universidad de Delaware
Anne Meyer
Dr. Meyer recibió su Ph.D. en Ciencias Biológicas en la Universidad de Stanford. Fue becaria postdoctoral en el MIT. La Dra. Meyer se desempeñó como profesora asistente en el Departamento de Bionanociencia en TU Delft en los PaÃses Bajos, antes de trasladar su grupo de investigación a la Universidad de Rochester en septiembre de 2018. Se desempeñó como asesora principal de ocho iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Organismos), que han ganado numerosos premios, incluido el Gran Premio 2015. Su investigación se centra en el uso de técnicas cuantitativas en los campos de la bioquÃmica, la microbiologÃa y la biofÃsica para estudiar la dinámica estructural, las interacciones macromoleculares y las respuestas fisiológicas de los organismos a los factores ambientales estresantes. También utiliza herramientas de biologÃa sintética para diseñar funciones novedosas en microorganismos, con un enfoque particular en la producción de biomateriales mejorados y sintonizables y el desarrollo de nuevas herramientas para la creación de patrones 3D de bacterias.
Profesor asociado, Universidad de Rochester,
VÃctor de Lorenzo
Profesor Investigador
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.