Michaelle Mayalu

Dr. Michaëlle N. Mayalu is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. She received her Ph.D., M.S., and B.S., degrees in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology in the Computing and Mathematical Sciences Department. She was a 2017 California Alliance Postdoctoral Fellowship Program recipient and a 2019 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Postdoctoral Enrichment Program award recipient. She is also a 2023 Hypothesis Fund Grantee.
Dr. Michaëlle N. Mayalu’s area of expertise is in mathematical modeling and control theory of synthetic biological and biomedical systems. She is interested in the development of control theoretic tools for understanding, controlling, and predicting biological function at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels to optimize therapeutic intervention.

Virginia Cornish

Virginia W. Cornish is the Helena Rubinstein Chair in the Department of Chemistry and a founding member of the Department of Systems Biology at Columbia University. Her research brings together modern methods in synthetic chemistry and DNA technology to expand the synthetic capabilities of living cells, and she is a pioneer in the field of yeast synthetic biology. Her current research focuses on translating state-of-the-art synthetic biology platforms to the clinic. She has over 100 research publications and issued patents and has been supported by grants from the NIH, NSF, DARPA, USDA, and numerous private foundations. Virginia has been recognized by an NSF Career Award (2000), a Sloan Foundation Fellowship (2003), the Columbia College John Jay Award (2005), the Protein Society Irving Sigal Young Investigator Award (2009), the American Chemical Society Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry (2009), and an HHMI Gilliam Adviser (2021). She graduated summa cum laude from Columbia University with a B.A. in Biochemistry in 1991, where she did undergraduate research with Professor Ronald Breslow. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry with Professor Peter Schultz at the University of California at Berkeley and then was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Biology Department at M.I.T. under the guidance of Professor Robert Sauer. Virginia joined the faculty of the Chemistry Department at Columbia in 1999 and was promoted Associate Professor with tenure in 2004, Professor in 2007, and Helena Rubinstein Chair in 2011.

EBRC 2024 Council Retreat

The EBRC 2024 Council Meeting will take place at the University of Delaware, in Newark, DE November 14-15, 2024.

Travel Support and Meeting Hotel:
We anticipate covering airfare and hotel expenses for EBRC Academic Council Members. To book your flights, please contact us at travel@ebrc.org. Please review EBRC’s revised travel policy.

Hotel information will be provided soon.

Health and Safety:
We are committed to hosting a safe event. We will be closely watching CDC recommendations in addition to all relevant local and state guidelines leading up to the Meeting and make any changes necessary for health and safety. Proof of vaccination will be required for attendance. A rapid antigen testing strategy may also be deployed depending on conditions. Meals will be provided outside.

Full schedule of SPA events

The EBRC SPA is looking forward to a full schedule of events this year! Information will be updated as it becomes available, learn more here.

Alexander Vlahos

Alexander Vlahos is an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is currently a Human Frontier Science Program Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Xiaojing Gao at Stanford University where he applies principles in synthetic biology and protein engineering to develop tools for programming intercellular signalling. Previously, he completed his PhD in Biomedical Engineering with Dr. Michael Sefton at the University of Toronto, where he developed platforms to improve vascularization of the subcutaneous space for islet transplantation. His goal is to converge his background in synthetic biology, systems biology, and tissue engineering to mechanistically study and manipulate multicellular systems to determine the key signals that govern these processes. His lab will focus on grandstanding challenges in biomedicine such improving the long-term engraftment of therapeutic cells, and increasing the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies.