Cătălin Voiniciuc

Associate Professor of Plant Synthetic Biology, University of Florida

Cătălin Voiniciuc is an Associate Professor of Plant Synthetic Biology and focuses on bioengineering cell surfaces, biopolymers and smaller molecules for agricultural, bioenergy, and biomedical needs. After plant biology MSc and PhD degrees in Canada and Germany, he began applying Synthetic Biology for research on complex carbohydrates, particularly the matrix polysaccharides of the plant cell wall. Since founding the Designer Glycans group (2019; relocated to Florida in 2022), he has been developing novel synthetic biology approaches that leverage liquid handling robots, artificial intelligence (AI), and directed evolution to discover and improve enzymes.