As a Physics PhD. student, I have been interested in developing quantitative models that enrich our understanding of complex biological systems. This has been a gateway into investigating the multiple ways in which bacterial capabilities can be altered and tuned for achieving specific purposes and more recently into bio-manufacturing.
Maggie Cook is a PhD student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow in Molecular Engineering at the University of Washington. Her research focuses on developing cell free systems for metabolic engineering. She received her Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering and a minor in biochemistry from Arizona State University, where she led the university’s iGEM team.
I am a first-year graduate student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow in Jorge Marchand’s group at the University of Washington, studying the implementation of xenonucleic acids (XNAs) into synthetic biology. I also spent 5 years in J. Andrew Jones’s lab at Miami University where I received my B.S. and M.S. degrees, working on the bioproduction of psychoactive compounds.
I am an MD PhD candidate with a background in general and computational biology. I currently work on engineering immune cells to express synthetic cytokines, which enable them to kill tumor cells with enhanced efficacy. I also focus on engineering immune cells to limit production of synthetic cytokines to solid tumors, limiting cytokine mediated toxicity while maximizing immune system activation against tumors. I plan to use my dual degree to lend a clinical perspective to the study and development of immunotherapies.
Hear from and meet with the leading figures in precision oncology to explore how companies are innovating in precision medicine, digital pathology and molecular testing to accelerate timelines and reduce risk in drug development, with in-depth consideration of the latest multiplexed and cytometry tools impacting biomarker research & validation
NextGen Omics 2023 features 4 outstanding programmes, bringing together Europe’s most successful omics research experts under one roof. The series provides an excellent networking platform which consists of key discussion topics in: Next Generation Sequencing & Clinical Diagnostics, Single Cell & Spatial Analysis, Synthetic Biology in Discovery & Therapeutics and Digital PCR & Liquid Biopsies
EBRC is co-hosting three regional workshops to identify stakeholder-driven metrics, metrology, and standards to enhance the performance of engineering biology for commercial and industrial activity, with a focus on the needs of start-ups and small companies that are working to bring a tool or product to market. Highlighted topics include supporting translation and scale-up capabilities, improving reproducibility, and enabling clear regulatory frameworks. The information gathered in these workshops will lay the groundwork to establish necessary metrics and open voluntary standards for engineering biology that enable the rapid growth and success of the bioeconomy.
EBRC, with partners at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Imperial College London, and the National University of Singapore (NUS), and supported by Schmidt Futures, have organized a global task force focused on determining the engineering biology metrics and technical standards needed to accelerate the global bioeconomy. The task force seeks to identify a variety of standards and metrics that are most needed to enable scale-up capabilities, improve reproducibility across batches and geographies, and enhance the performance of microbial factories and bio-products. The activities of this group will lay the groundwork for the establishment of open voluntary standards for engineering biology that enable the rapid growth and success of the global bioeconomy.
This initiative will involve extensive external stakeholder engagement with the international synthetic biology/engineering biology industry including start-ups and SMEs, policymakers, regulators, national measurement labs, and bioindustry trade bodies and associations. These external engagements will feed into the organization and coordination of three physical workshops in the US, EU, and Asia with a fourth and final workshop bringing together all stakeholders to map a way forward. You can find more information here.
Task Force Leadership:
India Hook-Barnard – EBRC
Elizabeth Strychalski – NIST
Paul Freemont – Imperial College London
Matthew Chang – National University of Singapore
Mary Maxon – Schmidt Futures
As a part of this effort, the Task Force is coordinating three regional workshops. Workshops are by invitation only and will be held in person. If you are interested in attending a regional workshop, please reach out to EBRC at helix@ebrc.org.
Americas workshop
Co-hosted by EBRC and NIST
Washington D.C.
7-9 June 2023
Asia/Australia workshop
Hosted by NUS
Singapore
29-31 August 2023
Europe/Africa workshop
Hosted by Imperial College
Brussels
25-27 September 2023
Associate Professor at Biology, Waubonsee Community College, IL. I am a Bio QUEST curriculum consortium fellow, contributor to the development of the Scientific Teaching Course from the National Institute of Scientific Teaching (NIST) and Editorial Board member for CBE-Life Sciences Education (LSE) journal.My doctoral training is in Pharmacology and Molecular biology. Recently, my scholarship has shifted to science education. I enjoy working with all students, especially freshman/sophomores from diverse backgrounds in biology education research projects in the aspects of effective study strategies and metacognition. I am passionate about implementing Course -Based Undergraduate Experiences (CUREs) with the lens of a quantitative data literacy to foster inclusion in a community college classroom. I continue to use project based assignments and data interpretation modules with scientific contributions of scientists who are members of historically excluded groups. Teaching is the way I connect with people, especially young people. I learn so much from them in trying to figure out how to help them learn.I enjoyed co-leading the first ASCN Inclusive STEM Teaching Project ASCN Learning community in 2021. In my workings with various groups, I learned the skills of building learning communities to foster shared common goals and attitudes while promoting an equitable participation of all members. It gave me a platform to bring the voices of the community college landscape with STEM practitioners from other institution types. The opportunities to be informed by the lived perspectives from different stakeholders, led me to ponder about the aspects of implementing and scaling change. I see myself as a change agent at the grassroots level.
I am a Research Instructor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Eppley Institute for Cancer Research, hosted by the labs of Dr. Michael (Tony) Hollingsworth (cancer biology, immunology) and Dr. Ken Bayles (bacterial genetics, microbiology). During my doctoral studies, I became fascinated with the many advantages oncolytic bacteria have over traditional therapeutics. As a result, I pursued specific training in genetic engineering and anaerobic bacteria. I performed ground-breaking studies, accomplishing the first CRISPR-mediated modification of Clostridium novyi-NT and established methodologies that have added to the field of biologic therapeutics. I chose post-doctorate studies at UNMC to further my training in immunology, cancer models, bacterial genetics, and microbiology. My long-term career goal is to establish a diverse and equitable academic research lab focused on genetically engineering single celled organisms for pharmaceutical and biofuel development. Additionally, I ascribe to the teacher/scholar model and intend to use my expertise to generate graduate and undergraduate courses as well as to mentor students in a laboratory setting – while fostering inclusive environments in both circumstances.
I’m a PhD student in Mark Mimee’s Microbiome Engineering Lab at UChicago. My main research interests are in synthetic biology, and more specifically applying synbio techniques to bacteria and harnessing their immense potential as sensors, tiny live cell factories, and potential biotherapeutics. Previously I worked at Gladstone Institutes at UCSF on novel antiviral strategies that involved engineering therapeutic interfering particles to outcompete harmful pathogenic strains.
Hear from and meet with the leading figures in biomarker analysis to explore how companies are innovating in biomarker analysis to accelerate timelines and reduce risk in drug development, with in-depth consideration of the latest multiplexed and cytometry tools impacting biomarker research & validation.
Key Speakers:
Mario Richter – AbbVie Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG
Eike Staub – Merck
Siôn Lewis – UCB BioPharma
Li Chin Wong – Prevail Therapeutics
Priyank Patel – Boehringer Ingelheim
Polina Goihberg – Pfizer