Lauren Rajakovich

Lauren received her B.S. in Chemistry from Wake Forest University in 2011, working in the laboratory of Patricia Dos Santos. Lauren earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Molecular Biology from the Pennsylvania State University in 2017. She trained in the joint laboratory of Marty Bollinger, Jr. and Carsten Krebs, studying the mechanistic and functional diversity of non-heme diiron oxidases and oxygenases. Lauren did her postdoctoral training with Emily Balskus at Harvard University as a Merck fellow of the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation. Her research focused on dietary nutrient metabolism by the human gut microbiota linked to cardiovascular disease. She started her independent research group in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Washington in January 2022. The goal of her research program is to uncover the biochemical and molecular basis for host-microbe interactions, microbial community dynamics, and microbial environmental adaptation. We use protein biochemistry, microbiology, and bioinformatics to discover, characterize, and engineer microbial pathways and enzymes for applications in biocatalysis, bioremediation, and biomedical applications.

Biomarkers & Precision Medicine UK 2025

Biomarkers and Precision Medicine 2025 is an immersive event now in its 20th year, spotlighting the latest trends and tools in biomarker research. This year’s agenda also includes dedicated programmes on Spatial Biology for Precision Medicine and Digital Pathology & AI. The event gathers leading experts from global pharmaceutical companies, pioneering biotech firms & startups, and leading academic & healthcare institutions, all contributing to various therapeutic areas and stages of drug development, clinical trials, and precision patient treatments.

Daniela Matias de Carvalho Bittencourt

Dr. Daniela Matias de C. Bittencourt is a researcher at Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology and an adjunct researcher at the J. Craig Venter Institute. With over 17 years of experience at Embrapa, including four years in research and innovation management, she has led strategic projects in synthetic biology and advanced biotechnology for sustainable agriculture. Daniela has coordinated national R&D networks, managed research initiatives, and currently serves as a member of high-level advisory and portfolio management committees at Embrapa. Her work bridges cutting-edge science and public policy, with a strong focus on innovation, biosecurity, and the future of agriculture in the context of global challenges.

Ashty Karim

Ashty Karim is an assistant professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University. With a foundation in chemical engineering and synthetic biology, he has worked in cell-free systems for >10 years at the intersection of biology and chemistry developing technologies to efficiently harness biological systems to convert waste to value. His research group develops biological molecules, systems, and processes to enable global sustainability, with a particular focus on increasing our ability to biorecover resources from waste, biorecycle waste materials, and biocapture waste carbon. He earned his B.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering and in Biology from the University of Texas at Austin and received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University. Embracing the academic mission of developing both knowledge and people, Ashty has also spent the last several years co-developing new educational frameworks, courses, and workshops for learning and teaching synthetic biology.

Pavel Dvořák

Pavel Dvořák, Ph.D.
He is currently an associate professor at Masaryk University (MUNI), Brno, Czech Republic, and group leader at the Microbial Bioengineering Laboratory (MBL).

Pavel Dvořák is a molecular biologist by training. During his Ph.D. studies (completed in 2014), he worked in the protein engineering group of Jiri Damborsky (Loschmidt Laboratories) on the design of synthetic enzyme cascades for the degradation of halogenated anthropogenic pollutants in vitro and in heterologous bacterial hosts.

Pavel conducted his postdoctoral research (2015 – 2018) as a Marie S. Curie fellow in the laboratory of Víctor de Lorenzo at CNB-CSIC, Madrid, where he focused on microbial metabolic engineering and synthetic biology, working on the refactoring of Pseudomonas putida for the biotechnological processing of carbohydrates from lignocellulosic residues.

In 2019, Pavel established the MBL at MUNI, and since then, he has continued to push the boundaries of mesophilic and thermophilic environmental bacteria for biotechnology using tools of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering.

Pavel is involved in teaching, mentoring, science popularization, and local SynBio community building. He is one of the PIs of the successful Brno iGEM team, a member of the Bioengineering and Bioprocessing Division of the European Federation of Biotechnology, a member of the Early Career Committee of the International Metabolic Engineering Society (IMES), and an EUSynBioS Advisory Board member. He promotes engineering biology in the Czech Republic. He recently founded the web platform Czech SynBio Node, which aims to unite laboratories, companies, and other local partners interested in engineering biology.

James Coker

James Coker is the Director of the Center for Biotechnology Education, which is a part of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University.
As a Professor and Scientist, James studies life in Earth’s extreme environments and harnesses the unique adaptations of the microorganisms living there for use in biotechnology applications. Using biochemical and genomics approaches, he has been able to reset the activity thermostat of several enzymes and discovered a novel genome-wide system of gene regulation. His research also has helped catalog the limits of life and thereby where it is possible for it to exist in the Universe.
As an Academic Administrator, James has worked to improve STEM education by working with the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning as well as UTeach to train the university faculty and secondary education teachers of tomorrow. He has also long been an advocate of democratizing education and a strong advocate for adult and military students as well as career changers and underserved populations.
James earned two Bachelor of Science degrees in Zoology and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, as well as a Minor in Philosophy, from Oklahoma State University and received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Microbiology from The Pennsylvania State University.
He currently resides in Washington D.C. and is an ardent supporter of Chelsea F.C. When not working, is either planning his next dive trip or playing with his retired racing greyhound.

Kyle Lauersen

Dr. Kyle J. Lauersen is an Associate Professor (effective July 1, 2025) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. His group is named Sustainable & Synthetic Biotechnology and has been at KAUST since August 2019. Their main research is focussed on engineering algae through the technologies collectively known as synthetic biology to be green cell factories for waste revalorization. Kyle did his Doctorate of Natural Sciences at Bielefeld University in Germany, and his master’s as well as undergrad at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Tenure-Track Faculty in Biomanufacturing Systems Engineering (All Ranks)

The Carl R. Ice College of Engineering seeks applicants for an open rank tenure-track faculty position, with an anticipated start date of August, 2025. The college is interested in candidates who can contribute to the teaching and research mission of the college and university in the area of biomanufacturing systems engineering. The successful candidate may join the faculty in one of the following disciplines: industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, electrical and computing engineering, chemical engineering, computer science, or mechanical and nuclear engineering.

The successful candidate will be highly collaborative and seek opportunities to develop collaborations with industry to build out an innovation ecosystem with translational research with specific emphasis in integrating and optimizing biomanufacturing systems. The successful applicant will demonstrate an ability to contribute to one or more of the following research areas:
-Smart biomanufacturing through automation, robotics, and digital twins for scalable and efficient biomanufacturing systems,
-Data-driven biomanufacturing systems modeling and simulation,
-Real-time decision-making for biomaterials processing,
-Biomanufacturing systems optimization and control to enhance bioprocessing efficiency, resource allocation, and supply chain logistics.
-Real-time quality control and adaptive process improvements leveraging machine learning, IoT-enabled monitoring, and predictive analytics in biomaterials processing.
-The successful candidate will also be passionate about teaching next generation students both within their discipline and also at the intersections between disciplines.

This position is part of the biomanufacturing initiative in which Kansas State University (K-State) is hiring up to twelve new faculty members at all ranks and in multiple disciplines to enhance our research and instruction strengths that support the growing biomanufacturing industry in the region through innovation and workforce development.

These faculty will bring innovative research and learning that complements our established reputation in agriculture, biosciences, biosecurity, engineering, and veterinary medicine. As an example of this strength, K-State is leading an NSF Engines Development Award for “Advancing biosecurity, biodefense, and biomanufacturing technologies” and is a member of the Kansas City Inclusive Biologics and Biomanufacturing Tech Hub recently designated by the EDA.

Research areas of interest include, but are not limited to, biomaterials development, biomanufacturing processes and systems, bioprocessing, artificial intelligence and machine learning for biomanufacturing, synthetic biology in microbes/plants, synthetic microbial communities, and vector-borne diseases.

Additional information about this exciting initiative can be found at: https://www.kstate.edu/biomanufacturing/constellation.

Lin Su

Dr. Lin Su is a Lecturer in Engineering Biology at the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London. Prior to this role, he served as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Cambridge, where he was a member of the Reisner Lab in the Department of Chemistry (2021–2025). During this time, he spearheaded research on bio-hybrid systems for sustainable solar energy conversion. Dr. Su earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Southeast University in 2021, where he focused on optimizing electron transfer between microorganisms and synthetic materials. As part of his doctoral training, he undertook a joint PhD research program with Prof. Caroline Ajo-Franklin’s group (2016–2020), conducting synthetic biology research split between Berkeley, CA and Houston, TX.

Dr. Su’s research bridges biology and materials science to address pressing environmental and energy challenges. His group specializes in engineering microbial-material interfaces, with two key focuses: developing biohybrid platforms for semi-artificial photosynthesis to harness solar energy, and creating bioelectronic sensors that enable seamless communication between biological and electronic systems. This work has gained recognition for its potential to advance sustainable technologies, offering novel solutions for clean energy production and next-generation biocompatible devices.

Vinoo Selvarajah

I head iGEM’s Technology Program where I develop new technology-related initiatives and resources, while also supporting existing iGEM ones.

I am also interested in what are the key enabling technologies for developing bioeconomies, and how we can ensure that these are distributed and accessible to ensure that our global bioeconomy is inclusive and safe.

Sonja Billerbeck

Sonja Billerbeck studied Biochemistry and Microbiology at the University of Tübingen, Germany, completing her Master’s thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology (Protein Evolution Department, Lab of Andrei Lupas), where she investigated protein folding mechanisms in archaeal chaperonins. Her participation in the iGEM competition sparked her interest in applied research, leading her to pursue a PhD at ETH Zurich, Switzerland (Biosystems Science and Engineering Department, Lab of Sven Panke). There, she developed enabling technologies for cell-free metabolic engineering, completing her doctorate in 2013.

With funding from a Swiss Mobility Grant and a Simons Junior Fellow Award, Sonja conducted postdoctoral research at Columbia University, New York, in the Chemistry Department (Lab of Virginia Cornish). Her work focused on synthetic biology applications in baker’s yeast.

In 2019, Sonja start her independent career as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Molecular Microbiology at the University of Groningen, Netherlands, where she was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2024. In 2025, she joined the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London, UK, as a Senior Lecturer. Her research program leverages microbial synthetic biology to combat fungal pathogens in medicine and agriculture and develops genetic tools for non-conventional microbes to innovate alternative food production systems.

Beyond her research, Sonja is committed to mentoring and community engagement. She has served as Chair of the Microbial Biotechnology section of the Dutch Biotechnology Association (NBV) and the Royal Dutch Association for Microbiology (KNVM). She co-founded SynBioNL, serves on the iGEM Engineering Committee’s steering group, and is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal OUP Synthetic Biology.

Rixin Zhang

Tackle resource competition problems in synthetic biology, aiming to restore gene circuits’ modularity and build robust gene circuits.

sadikshya rijal

Sadikshya Rijal is pursuing her PhD in biological design from Arizona State University. She is affiliated with Dr. Xiaojun Tian’s lab, which focuses on resource allocation of gene circuits and phase separation in bacterial systems.

Abigail Stringer

Joanna Tannous

Joanna Tannous is an associate staff scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee, USA, where she works within the Synthetic Biology group of the Biosciences Division and the Biological and Environmental Systems Science Directorate. Her research focuses on leveraging synthetic biology approaches to develop advanced genome editing tools for non-model fungal species, enabling the study of molecular mechanisms underlying fungal pathogenicity, metabolism, and interactions with hosts and microbial communities. Joanna is also dedicated to uncovering and characterizing novel fungal metabolites using genetic engineering and multi-omics techniques, with an emphasis on their roles in fungal-host interactions and microbiome dynamics.
She holds dual Ph.D.s, one in Pathology, Toxicology, Genetics, and Nutrition from the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse (INPT), France, and another in Chemistry from St. Joseph University, Lebanon. Prior to joining ORNL, Joanna completed postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Horticulture and Seed Research Institute (IRHS) at the University of Angers, France. She is an active member of the Genetic Society of America (GSA) and the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).

Yalin Li

I am an Assistant Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rutgers University. My research integrates experimental and computational approaches to enhance the sustainability of water and energy systems and advance bioeconomy. Utilizing quantitative sustainable design, I develop open-source platforms for techno-economic analysis, life cycle assessment, and multi-criteria decision analysis to navigate tradeoffs, guide technology research, development, and deployment, and support informed decision and policymaking. I also develop thermochemical and catalytic technologies for valorizing organic wastes into renewable fuels, chemicals, and nutrients, while exploring their applications in environmental engineering for the destruction of emerging contaminants. My goal is to bridge experimental innovations with systemic sustainability insights to advance resource recovery and circular economy principles.

Nicholas Sandoval

Nicholas Sandoval is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Tulane University. Prior to joining the faculty, Dr. Sandoval was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware in the Papoutsakis research group with support from an NIH National Research Service Award. He earned his Ph.D. in 2011 at the University of Colorado Boulder in Ryan Gill’s research group with support from an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Additionally, Dr. Sandoval was a lecturer in the Colorado Mesa University/University of Colorado Mechanical Engineering Partnership Program in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Robert Speight

Dr Robert Speight is Director of the Advanced Engineering Biology (AEB) Future Science Platform (FSP) at CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency. CSIRO works with industry, government and the research community to turn science into solutions to address Australia’s greatest challenges through innovative science and technology.
An experienced leader in engineering biology, Robert is recognized in Australia and internationally for his contribution towards the development of industrial biotechnology and synthetic biology industries. As Director of the AEB FSP, Robert is passionate about fostering a collaborative science and technology ecosystem to unlock opportunities for the environment, society, and the economy. The AEB FSP is delivering new innovative tools to fast track the development of biotechnological solutions and new industries in Australia.
Robert joined CSIRO in 2022 and has extensive networks across industry, government, and the Australian engineering biology ecosystem. He has held a number of leadership roles in industry and academia, most recently as Head of the School of Biology and Environmental Science at Queensland University of Technology where he was also Professor of Microbial Biotechnology. Robert received his PhD from the University of Cambridge and BSc from Imperial College London and undertook postdoctoral training at the University of Edinburgh before co-founding Ingenza Ltd.

Bojing Jiang

Bojing Jiang is a Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, with a focus on developing protein-based materials for biomedical and environmental applications. Her research integrates synthetic biology, materials science, and tissue engineering to create innovative biomaterials for regenerative medicine, drug delivery, and micro-nanofabrication. Bojing’s work emphasizes sustainability and biocompatibility, leveraging fully protein-based materials to design eco-friendly alternatives with enhanced functionality.

She has contributed to groundbreaking projects funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including materials for neuron regeneration, vascular repair, and wound healing. Bojing has published in high-impact journals such as Science Advances and Advanced Functional Materials, with her research recognized for its role in advancing green and scalable nanofabrication techniques using protein-based resists.

In addition to her technical expertise, Bojing excels in protein design, gene editing, fermentation, and biomaterials characterization, with a commitment to developing solutions that bridge scientific innovation and real-world impact. She is passionate about contributing to the next generation of healthcare technologies while advancing sustainability in the field of biomedical engineering.

Sara Molinari

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 enabled the creation of a novel pattern formation by physically separating genetically distinct cells. As a postdoctoral researcher, 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. In her laboratory in the Department of Bioengineering at The University of Maryland College Park, she investigates the design rules for engineering de novo ELMs from different bacteria to enable a wide array of applications. Sara is a full member of the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society, a 2022 Distinguished Young Scholar (UWDYSS), a 2022 BME Future Faculty, and a rising star at the SynBYSS seminar series.

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