EBRC Sci Comm Workshop Series: “Communicating Science Effectively”

EBRC is excited to host “Communicating Science Effectively”, an interactive, virtual training series open to all EBRC members! Over the course of three 60-minute sessions, participants will learn research-based theories underlying effective science communication and have the opportunity to apply these principles through hands-on instruction, practice, and feedback. The series will culminate with an in-person session during the EBRC Annual Meeting (register here!). This is a great opportunity for anyone interested in leveling up their communication and engagement skills!

Because the sessions build on one another, participants are expected to attend all three virtual sessions.

Questions? Please feel free to reach out to Julietta (julietta@ebrc.org)!

Register Here

 

Workshop Series Schedule

Session 1: Sci Comm 101 (virtual) | Friday, March 20, 2026 (3 PM ET/12 PM PT)

During this initial session, participants will consider the aim of their communication and go through the basics of effective science communication.

Objectives include:

  • Learn how to define clear communication goals and align messaging with desired outcomes;
  • Explore strategies for identifying and understanding your audience’s background, expectations, and needs; and
  • Understand the basics of ensuring your key points are communicated clearly.

Participants will also engage in interactive discussions to share their communication and engagement goals, challenges, fears, and opportunities.

 

Session 2: Panel Discussion – Applying Sci Comm in Practice (virtual) | Thursday, April 16, 2026 (3 PM ET/12 PM PT)

During this session, a panel of Sci Comm experts across a variety of fields will share their experiences.

Discussion topics include:

  • Finding and knowing your audience—Panelists will share practical strategies for identifying target audiences, understanding their values and needs, and building meaningful connections.
  • The importance of the messenger—Panelists will discuss how credibility, trust, and identity influence how science is received.
  • Creating and delivering effective messages—Panelists will discuss examples of what makes a compelling story.
    Working with journalists, press officers and professional societies

Participants will additionally be invited to actively engage with the panel, ask questions, share perspectives, and seek expert advice relevant to their own science communication experiences.

 

Session 3: Crafting your message (virtual) | Friday, May 15, 2026 (3 PM ET/12 PM PT)

This final session will focus on best practices for communicating evidence and strategies for addressing issues such as uncertainty, biases and presenting numerical information

Objectives include:

  • Best practices for communicating evidence and numbers: what are the issues with using words without numbers, the need to communicate absolute risks, natural frequencies, etc;
  • Learn how to clearly communicate different types of uncertainty;
  • Align uncertainty information to the decision context; and
  • Understand how mental models and cognitive biases may affect people’s understanding of evidence and consider how to use transformative explanations and other communication tactics.

 

Final presentations (in-person) | June 3, 2026 (at the EBRC Annual Meeting)

Participants will prepare a Sci Comm product tailored to a specific audience, topic, and engagement platform (e.g., an Instagram live stream, interview for a local newspaper, a Bluesky thread) to be presented during a live, interactive session at the EBRC Annual Meeting open to all meeting attendees.

This session will offer a unique opportunity for participants to put the skills and strategies learned throughout the workshop series into practice and engage in meaningful dialogue with a broader scientific community.

 

Mia Negru

Mia Negru serves as Executive Director of Life With Artificials, a social engagement platform exploring how humans and intelligent systems coexist in areas such as health, work, governance, and everyday life. Through public dialogue, cross-sector partnerships, and policy-oriented initiatives, she works to connect researchers, innovators, regulators, and citizens—ensuring that emerging technologies evolve in alignment with democratic values, ethical principles, and social responsibility.

She studied International Business and Politics at Copenhagen Business School (CBS), where she built a solid understanding of regulatory systems, institutional decision-making, and public–private collaboration in complex policy environments.

Her passion for frontier innovation led her to engage with programs at Singularity University, deepening her focus on artificial intelligence, robotics, and synthetic biology and their long-term societal implications.

Lasse Helmer Pederson

Lasse Helmer Pedersen is a hands-on technologist and strategic advisor working at the intersection of advanced AI, engineering and health technology. As Strategic Advisor on technology for Zibra Holding ApS, he supports a portfolio of tech ventures with AI strategy, innovation governance, and the design of resilient technology ecosystems. Previously, Lasse served as CTO at MindFuture, where he helped build an innovation hub around real-world, responsible applications of artificial intelligence. A long-time practitioner, he has led technology, product development, and IT organizations across telecoms, infrastructure, and software, giving him a practical understanding of how to move complex technologies from concept to deployment at scale.

Lasse is part of the core team in Life with Artificials, contributing strategic advice on how humans and AI can coexist in ways that are safe, beneficial, and aligned with societal values. He is particularly interested in how cutting-edge AI can accelerate engineering biology and health tech while maintaining robustness, security, and public trust.

Chloe Franklin

Chloe Franklin is Director of National Programs at the BioBuilder Educational Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing students exposure to real-world STEM applications and industry-relevant skills to prepare the largest and most diverse group of learners for colleges and careers in life science. She leads educator training initiatives and the BioBuilderClub, which invites high school students to tackle local and global challenges through synthetic biology with the support of scientific mentors. Chloe holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in educational studies with a focus on inquiry-based science instruction.

Andres Franco

Andres is the Senior Director for Global & Europe, Public Affairs, Communications, & Sustainability at Procter & Gamble (P&G) Beauty. His work focuses on shaping long-term commercial and innovation strategy by providing critical analysis of the external policy, sustainability, and technology landscapes. He specializes in developing public affairs and communication strategies that navigate regulatory challenges and help inform the development of effective, science-based policy. With a diverse background in brand strategy and P&L leadership, Andres is a collaborative leader passionate about fostering public-private partnerships to advance the bioeconomy.

Maya Venkataraman

Maya Venkataraman is a Biotechnology Scientist at Procter & Gamble. Her work focuses on harnessing the powers of natural diversity and engineered microbes to enable sustainable ingredient innovation. Previous to her current role, she received her Ph.D. in Chemical and Biological Engineering from UW-Madison.

Jose Carlos Garcia-Garcia

Dr. Jose Carlos Garcia-Garcia is a Senior Director and Research Fellow at Procter &
Gamble, where he spearheads Corporate Biotechnology within the Disruptive Platforms organization. Originally from Cuba, Dr. Garcia-Garcia obtained his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences as a Howard Hughes Predoctoral Fellow, and later completed his postdoctoral studies and served in the faculty at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

In 2010, when P&G launched its Corporate Biotechnology program, Dr. Garcia-Garcia seized the opportunity to channel his passion for applied research into initiatives that enhance consumer health and wellness. Today, he continues to drive industry-leading biotechnology-enabled innovation at P&G for both consumer well-being and environmental sustainability.

Anneke Kaminski

Anneke Kaminski is currently serving as the R&D Senior Director of Connect + Develop for the Americas at Procter & Gamble. In this role, she is leading the way P&G delivers products, packages, and services leveraging external collaborations with strong eco-system partners across the Americas. Anneke holds a Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering, as well as a Master of Science in Polymer and Coatings Chemistry.

Anneke Kaminski has over 25 years of experience with Procter & Gamble, where she has held multiple technical leadership positions. Her experience spans across multiple divisions, including Baby Care, Family Care, and Corporate R&D. She has managed responsibilities ranging from upstream innovation to downstream product delivery, working on brands such as Pampers, Glad, Tide, Charmin, Puffs, and Bounty.

Response to DOE’s Request for Information on Partnerships for Transformational AI Models

Publication Date: January 2026

EBRC’s response to DOE’s Request for Information on Partnerships for Transformational AI Models.

Response to NSF TIP’s Workforce Development Roadmap

Publication Date: January 2026

EBRC’s response to the National Science Foundation for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (NSF TIP) offers recommendations to align workforce development with evolving industry needs to expand U.S. engineering biology and biotechnology capacity. Such efforts will strengthen the American workforce and help maintain U.S. competitiveness and leadership in emerging technologies.

Dianzhuo (John) Wang

Dr. Dianzhuo (John) Wang earned his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Harvard. His research integrated biophysics and machine learning to forecast viral variants and develop state-of-the-art models for protein design. As CSO of TwentyTwo, he leads research strategy to develop machine learning tools to prepare for biological risks.

Evan Seeyave

Evan was previously at SecureBio working on desktop synthesizer security, ultraviolet PPE, and AIxBio evaluations. He finished his Bachelor’s and Master’s last year at MIT, and he’s leading TwentyTwo to work on improving security for the life sciences ecosystem.

Sophie Peresson

Sophie is the technical lead for the International Screening Standards initiative, which seeks to support the harmonization and standardization of screening approaches around the world. She is a member of the International Gene Synthesis Consortium (IGSC), the OECD Synthetic Biology Working Party, Pandemic Action Network (PAN), several other international policy fora and the former French representative at ISO TC 276: Biotechnology working group.

Previously, Sophie played a critical role in the revision of the ASPR/HHS Screening Framework Guidance for providers and users of synthetic nucleic acides, namely by providing expert input on the specific challenges faced by benchtop device manufacturers, and the solutions developed by them. At the EU level, Sophie actively contributes to discussions around the EU Biotech Act and the Bioeconomy, working collaboratively with key stakeholders across the synthetic biology ecosystem. She regularly speaks at international conferences including SynBioBeta, SynbiCITE, and the OECD.

She has spent much of her career working at the interface of science, public policy, and health, building trusted relationships with governments, civil society, and the private sector. Prior to joining IBBIS, she held senior roles in international organizations, think tanks, and the private sector. She lectures on governance and emerging technologies at Sciences Po (Paris). Sophie holds post-graduate degrees from the Sorbonne Law School, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

Piers Millet

Piers D. Millett, Ph.D. is Executive Director of the International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science (IBBIS). Dr. Millett is a certified biorisk management professional, with a specialization in biosecurity.

Dr. Millett was Deputy Head of the Implementation Support Unit for the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), a treaty for which he worked for over a decade. He has consulted for the World Health Organization, supporting its integration of research and development into responses to public health emergencies and considering the health implications of advances in technology. As Vice President for Responsibility for iGEM Foundation (International Genetically Engineered Machines Competition), Dr. Millett established and ran a program strengthening the culture of responsibility and risk management with more than 350 projects each year, involving more than 6,000 young scientists and engineers from 45 countries across every inhabited continent.
Trained originally as a microbiologist, Dr. Millett has worked closely with the citizen science movement, synthetic biologists, the biotechnology industry as well as national and international policymakers and decisionmakers. He has collaborated with a range of intergovernmental organizations spanning human and animal health, humanitarian law, disarmament, security, border control, law enforcement, and weapons of mass destruction— both inside and out of the United Nations system.

He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations and Affairs, an MRes in Research Methodology, and an MA in International Politics and Security Studies—all from the University of Bradford. He has a BSc in Microbiology from the University of Leeds.

EBRC 2026 Annual Meeting

Register Here

Our 2026 Annual Meeting will be held June 2-3, 2026 at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC!

The EBRC Annual Meeting provides an opportunity for the engineering biology community to come together to engage on matters important to advancing engineering biology. In addition to inspiring research talks and poster presentations, EBRC’s meeting holds time to consider the larger engineering biology research ecosystem in which we all exist and work together to move the field forward. We invite you to join us to present and discuss your latest research, build relationships with your colleagues in academia, industry, and government, and advance the member-driven work of EBRC. Attendance at the Annual Meeting is open to all EBRC members, their lab members, employees of institutional members, and all SPA members. We also warmly welcome all those in the Research Triangle with an interest in engineering biology to join us. Thank you to our hosts at the Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center at North Carolina State University!

This year, we are excited to celebrate EBRC’s 10-year anniversary! Additional activities, sessions, and social mixers will also be held throughout the Research Triangle on June 1, 2026, the day before the meeting; look forward to more information about these industry- and SPA-dedicated events coming soon!

Registration:
The deadline to register is May 11, 2026. To confirm your spot and offset some of the meal costs, there will be a nominal fee. If this fee is prohibitive for you or your lab members, please email helix@ebrc.org.

Abstract submissions for talks and posters are now open. Abstract submission is separate from registration. Submissions from all attendees are welcome! We encourage you to submit your latest, ongoing work as a mechanism to engage in community dialogue. Abstracts for talks are due March 30, 2026 and abstracts for posters are due on May 11, 2026.

IMPORTANT DATES:
March 30, 2026: Last day to submit talk abstracts
April 20, 2026: Notification of talk selection
April 29, 2026: Registration closes for those with EBRC-supported travel
May 1, 2026: Deadline for hotel and travel arrangements by EBRC
May 11, 2026: Registration closes*
May 11, 2026: Last day to submit poster abstracts

*registration may still be possible after this date but will incur additional costs

Annual Meeting Venue:
Talley Student Union
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC

Meeting Hotel:
EBRC has reserved a block of hotel rooms at the Residence Inn Raleigh Downtown (616 S. Salisbury Street, Raleigh, NC 27601) at $189.00 per night (includes breakfast and WiFi). If your travel is not covered by EBRC, you can provide payment at check in. Please contact helix@ebrc.org with any questions rather than contacting the hotel directly.

Transportation:
More information coming soon!

Travel Support:
We anticipate covering airfare and hotel expenses for:

  • Individuals selected as speakers from academia, including students and postdocs;
  • EBRC Academic Council members selected as Session Chairs; and
  • Student and Postdoc Association Board members who present a poster or are selected as speakers.

Individuals who will receive travel support will be contacted by email to complete their flight bookings. The meeting will conclude at 5:00PM on Wednesday, June 3 and we encourage those receiving travel support to find an evening flight if at all possible. Please contact helix@ebrc.org if you anticipate needing Sunday and/or Wednesday night accommodations. Please also note that travel support does not include the confirmation/meal fee. Email helix@ebrc.org if this fee is prohibitive. Please see EBRC’s full travel policy here.

We encourage you to make your travel plans early, as we will cap the level of airfare support provided by EBRC. Airfare must be booked by May 1 to be eligible for EBRC support.

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.

Dress Code:
The EBRC Annual Meeting does not have a dress code. EBRC values diversity and individual expression — we encourage participants to come as they are and wish to present themselves to the world.

Response to OSTP’s Request for Information on Accelerating the American Scientific Enterprise

Publication Date: December 2025

EBRC’s response to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Request for Information on Accelerating the American Scientific Enterprise provides targeted recommendations for the U.S. government’s role in the advancement of biotechnology.

Response to NSF RFI on Key Technology Focus Areas for the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships

Publication Date: July 2025

An EBRC response to NSF RFI 90 FR 26330: Key Technology Focus Areas for the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships.

Nucleic Acid Synthesis Screening elements of EO 14292: Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research

Publication Date: June 2025

The Trump Administration released Executive Order 14292: Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research in May 2025. The EO directed the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to develop an updated framework for nucleic acid synthesis screening. This EBRC comment highlights reasonable strategies for screening assessments and the need for regular updates to screening standards.

DGOF Research elements of EO 14292: Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research

Publication Date: July 2025

The Trump Administration released Executive Order 14292: Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research in May 2025. The EO directed the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to develop new policy for “dangerous gain of function” research (DGOFR) to supercede a 2024 policy framework. This EBRC comment encourages the development of a transparent, implementable policy with a precise and narrow definition of DGOF.

Chris Hoover

Dr. Christopher Hoover (Chris) is Senior Program Manager for Special Projects at EBRC where he is focused on promoting safe and responsible uses of engineering biology in health, agriculture, biosecurity, and climate. He also supports EBRC and its members in communicating the societal benefits of engineering biology to diverse audiences. Prior to EBRC, Chris was an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) where he covered biotechnology, biosecurity, and health outcomes. He enjoys serving as a bridge between scientific experts and policy-makers—working to implement evidence-based solutions that improve human health and wellbeing. In addition to his time at OSTP, Chris worked in state and local public health departments responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, promoting data-driven approaches to combat the overdose epidemic, and modernizing public health data systems. He was a 2022 JHU Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity (ELBI) Fellow, received his MPH from Emory University, and completed doctoral training in public health data science and infectious disease epidemiology at UC Berkeley.