Ahmad (Mo) Khalil, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisor
Ahmad (Mo) Khalil, Ph.D. is the Dorf-Ebner Distinguished Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and the Founding Associate Director of the Biological Design Center at Boston University. He is also a Visiting Scholar at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, and Co-Director of a NIH/NIGMS T32 PhD Training Program in synthetic biology. His research has pioneered synthetic biology and laboratory evolution approaches to learn fundamental principles and mechanisms of biological circuits, with the goal of using this understanding to engineer cells with new therapeutic behaviors. He is recipient of numerous awards, including a Schmidt Science Polymath Award, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), DoD Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship, NIH New Innovator Award, NSF CAREER Award, DARPA Young Faculty Award, and Hartwell Foundation Biomedical Research Award, and he has received numerous awards for teaching excellence. Mo earned his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his B.S. from Stanford University.
Omid Veiseh, PhD.
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Omid Veiseh is a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded Sigilon Therapeutics (Nasdaq: SGTX), Avenge Bio, Pana Bio, and Curada Bio. He is also a professor of Bioengineering at Rice University where he leads a research program aimed at engineering next generation treatments for a wide range of human diseases by leveraging the latest techniques in synthetic biology, immunoengineering, and materials science to develop innovative cell-based platforms for real-time production of biologics.
Cullen Buie, PhD.
Cofounder & Scientific Advisory Board Chair
Cullen Buie, Ph.D. is currently an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He completed his B.S. from The Ohio State University and obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford. Prior to joining MIT, Cullen was a President's Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. Cullen’s laboratory explores flow physics at the microscale for applications in biotechnology. With funding from DARPA, NSF, and NIH, his team has made advances in numerous areas including genetic engineering of bacteria and chemical communication in microbial communities. Cullen received many awards for his research and service including the NSF CAREER Award, the DuPont Young Professor Award, the DARPA Young Faculty Award, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. He co-founded Kytopen in 2017 with his postdoc Paulo Garcia, Ph.D.
Stanley Qi, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisor
Stanley Qi, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor, Department of Bioengineering at Stanford University. He did fundamental work in genome engineering, including the invention of CRISPRa (activation) and CRISPRi (interference). Dr. Qi is a co-inventor on the University of California’s Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR patent. He is an associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering and ChEM-H at Stanford University, where his lab has invented numerous technologies combining genome engineering with synthetic biology to probe biological processes and discover new therapeutic approaches.
Katie Galloway, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisor
Katie Galloway, Ph.D. is the W. M. Keck Career Development Professor in Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering at MIT. Her research focuses on elucidating the fundamental principles of integrating synthetic circuitry to drive cellular behaviors. Through a combination of systems and synthetic biology approaches, her lab develops integrated gene circuits and elucidates the systems-level principles that govern complex cellular behaviors. Her goal is to leverage quantitative tools to transform how we understand cellular transitions and engineer cellular therapies. Galloway earned a PhD and an MS in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology, and a BS in Chemical Engineering from University of California at Berkeley. She completed her postdoctoral work at University of Southern California Stem Cell. Her research has been featured in Science, Cell Stem Cell, Cell Systems, and Development. She has won multiple fellowships and awards including the NIH Maximizing Investigators' Research Award R35, the NIH F32, and Caltech’s Everhart Award.
Jared R. Auclair, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisor
Jared R. Auclair, Ph.D. is currently the Vice Provost, Research Economic Development and Director of Bioinnovation at Northeastern University. Dr. Auclair works to strengthen the bonds between the education and research missions through work-integrated credentialed learning and use-inspired research, co-creating with communities and partners while expanding the global mindset. He also leverages University biotechnology activities to bring together multi-disciplinary experts to advance and expand the life sciences programs. In addition, Dr. Auclair holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology where he collaborates with academic researchers, industry and government in biopharmaceutical development and analysis.
Mikhail Shapiro, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Mikhail Shapiro is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Medical Engineering, an HHMI Investigator, and Director of the Center for Molecular and Cellular Medicine at Caltech. The Shapiro laboratory develops biomolecular technologies allowing cells to be imaged and controlled inside the body using sound waves and magnetic fields. These technologies enable the study of biological function in vivo and the development of cell-based diagnostic and therapeutic agents. Mikhail received his PhD in Biological Engineering from MIT and his BSc in Neuroscience from Brown. He conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a Miller Fellow. Mikhail’s awards include the NIH Pioneer Award, the Packard Fellowship, the Pew Scholarship, the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise, the Sontag Foundation Distinguished Scientist Award, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the Carl Hellmuth Hertz Ultrasonics Award, and the Roger Tsien Award for Excellence in Chemical Biology.
Scientific Advisor
Mikhail Shapiro is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Medical Engineering, an HHMI Investigator, and Director of the Center for Molecular and Cellular Medicine at Caltech. The Shapiro laboratory develops biomolecular technologies allowing cells to be imaged and controlled inside the body using sound waves and magnetic fields. These technologies enable the study of biological function in vivo and the development of cell-based diagnostic and therapeutic agents. Mikhail received his PhD in Biological Engineering from MIT and his BSc in Neuroscience from Brown. He conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a Miller Fellow. Mikhail’s awards include the NIH Pioneer Award, the Packard Fellowship, the Pew Scholarship, the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise, the Sontag Foundation Distinguished Scientist Award, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the Carl Hellmuth Hertz Ultrasonics Award, and the Roger Tsien Award for Excellence in Chemical Biology.