Niall Mangan

Niall M. Mangan received the Dual BS degrees in mathematics and physics, with a minor in chemistry, from Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, USA, in 2008, and the PhD degree in systems biology from Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA, in 2013. Dr. Mangan worked as a postdoctoral associate in the Photovoltaics Lab at MIT from 2013-2015 and as an Acting Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, Seattle from 2016-2017. She is currently an Assistant Professor of engineering sciences and applied mathematics with Northwestern University, where she works at the interface of mechanistic modeling, machine learning, and statistical inference. Her group applies these methods to many applications including metabolic and regulatory networks to accelerate the build-test-learn cycle.

Synthetic Biology Young Speaker Series (SynBYSS) nominations open!

Synthetic Biology Young Speaker Series (SynBYSS) nominations are open!

This virtual seminar series will feature presentations by early career professionals. If you or someone you know is interested in speaking, please submit a nomination using the information below. Nominations will be accepted on a rolling basis.

Eligibility: Must be an untenured professor working in synthetic biology OR someone planning on applying for a faculty job soon.

When: Official start date and actual days/times TBD but September 2021 or earlier

Nomination: Please submit your CV or resume to (tsmoon@wustl.edu). Self-nominations are welcome, as well as nominating others in your lab. All nominations will be subject to review by a selection committee.

We look forward to receiving your nomination for this exciting seminar series!

Please contact Tae Seok Moon (tsmoon@wustl.edu) with any questions.

Central US Synthetic Biology Workshop – Sept 2021

Registration and abstract submission is now open for the upcoming HYBRID Central US Synthetic Biology Workshop, Sept 9-10th. If possible, the in-person portion of the workshop will be held at Northwestern University. Featured speakers include Caroline Ajo-Franklin from Rice and Huimin Zhao from U of  Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The workshop website contains the most up-to-date information: http://centralsynbio.org/ We look forward to seeing you at this year’s Central US Synthetic Biology Workshop.

Registration and abstract submission for short talks and posters are open now! Register here!

  • Abstract submission deadline: July 30th, 2021
  • Registration deadline: July 30th (in-person), August 31st (remote)

Please register, regardless of if you will submit an abstract.

Omar Akbari

In May of 2005, Omar Akbari received a B.S./M.S. in Biotechnology from the University of Nevada, Reno. In December of 2008, he received a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Nevada, Reno where he studied transcriptional regulation during development. He then joined the laboratory of professor Bruce A. Hay at the California Institute of Technology as a Postdoctoral Scholar to develop population control technologies for animals. In 2015, he became an Assistant Professor of Entomology in the Center for Infectious Disease Vector Research (CIDVR) at the University of California, Riverside. In fall of 2017, he joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Cell and Developmental Biology Section, within the Division of Biological Sciences, at the University of California, San Diego. In 2018 he co-founded Agragene a biotechnology based startup in San Diego, CA. In 2019 he was promoted to Associate Professor (w/Tenure) in the Cell and Developmental Biology Section, within the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego.