I am currently a third year PhD Candidate in the Biochemistry Molecular Biology and Biophysics (BMBB) program at the University of Minnesota Twin-Cities. Before I joined the BMBB program, I graduated from Southwestern University, in Georgetown Texas, with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 2016. I then spent 3 years as a Lab Technician for Eco-Services in Houston Texas, which is a subsidiary of PQ Corporation specializing in sulfuric acid manufacturing.
Michaela is a postdoctoral researcher in Otto Cordero’s Lab at MIT working to expand the metabolic function of non-model ocean microbes. Prior to starting her postdoc, she completed her graduate work with Aditya Kunjapur at University of Delaware where she developed a new pathway for biosynthesis of non-standard amino acids and engineered a bacterial strain that was dependent on a non-standard amino acid for growth that can persist in soil microenvironments to build towards safely deployable synthetic microbes. As an EBRC board member, she serves as EMUMS chair to help provide academic mentorship to undergraduate and Master’s students interested in engineering biology.
Sanjeeva is a PhD student in Mansell lab at Iowa state university. His research work focuses on developing novel prebiotic-probiotic pairs for gut microbiome engineer. Prior to this, he completed his masters from IIT Guwahati, where he focused on constructing metabolic pathway to convert dairy waste to D-Lactic acid. Currently, he serves as a member of the EBRC SPA Board and works as the liaison to the Policy and International Engagement group. In addition, he also worked as a downstream process engineer for monoclonal antibody purification at Dr. Reddy Laboratories in India. Outside research, he enjoys watching cricket, playing badminton, running etc.
Edward is a postdoctoral fellow in the Ben Shen lab at UF Scripps. His research focuses on developing and utilizing synthetic biology approaches for natural product discovery and biosynthetic engineering, with an emphasis on biosynthetic gene cluster regulation. Prior to his postdoctoral position, he obtained his Ph.D. in the Gavin Williams lab at North Carolina State University where he engineered polyketide synthases and constructed transcription factor-based biosensors.
Yue is a Ph.D. candidate at the Styczynski lab at Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research is focused on developing computational models for metabolic pathways toward effective strain design. Yue completed her undergraduate studies at Carnegie Mellon University in Chemical Engineering. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies and exploring the city.
Megan is a postdoctoral scholar in the Jewett Lab at Stanford University. She earned her BS in chemical engineering from the University of Rhode Island—with minors in chemistry, mathematics, and music performance—and her PhD in chemical and biomolecular engineering from Georgia Tech. Her PhD work focused on using cell-free expression systems to engineer diagnostic platforms for point-of-care biosensing applications. As an EBRC SPA member, Megan serves as a liaison to the education working group and co-chair for EMUMS.
Yan is a postdoctoral fellow co-advised by William (Bil) Clemons and Richard Murray at Caltech, where she applies cell-free synthetic biology to engineer bacterial viruses for therapeutic applications and precision microbial control. Yan received her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University (2017) and her Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology (2022). As a board member of the SPA and the co-liaison for the Policy and International Engagement (P&IE) working group, she is committed to helping to build connections between researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders to advance the application and reach of engineering biology research.
Rana Said did her undergraduate degree in Biotechnology Cairo University in 2013. Rana was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study Master’s in Biotechnology from American University, Washington DC. Rana is now doing her PhD in Biotechnology Engineering, developing tools to enhance the engineering of enzymes, as well as engineering Lactic Acid Bacteria.
I am a postdoc in the Seelig Lab at UW. I’m using massively parallel reporter assays and deep learning methods to engineer synthetic biological systems in human cells. I obtained my PhD in Bioengineering at Rice University, where I worked in optogenetics and B. subtilis synthetic biology. As an undergrad, I studied Mechatronics Engineering at Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria in Lima, Peru, where I am from.
Xinran is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of working under the supervision of Rama Ranganathan and Andrew Ferguson. She works on integrating deep-learning generative models and high-throughput assays to design novel proteins. Outside of research, she is an amateur artist and birder.
I am a postdoctoral scholar working in the Northen Group at Berkeley Lab. I received my Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2019. I am broadly interested in addressing soil health and sustainable agriculture under global change.
I received my BS in pharmacology and toxicology from the University of Toronto. Prior to graduate school, I worked at Morgan Stanley as an equity research associate. I joined my current lab in 2016 with the support from the Honjo fellowship (2016-2020) and NIH NCI F99/K00 award (2020-).
I am originally from Michigan where I earned a B.S. in Microbiology from Michigan State University. Shortly after I worked with Harris Wang and George Church at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute. I did my PhD research in Systems Biology at Columbia University with Harris Wang. My research was focused on developing high-throughput methods for characterizing regulatory sequences in diverse bacterial species. In 2019 I began postdoctoral research with Michael Fischbach at Stanford University where I am developing genetic tools for human commensal bacterial species.