Peter Carr

My research focuses on increasing the scale at which we can engineer organisms, up to entire genomes. Current projects in my lab include: 1) high throughput microfluidic gene and protein synthesis for rapid prototyping of engineered genetic systems; 2) re-engineering the genetic code of microbesproviding plug-and-play capabilities for non-natural amino acids, and constructing "genetic firewalls" to block gene flow to and from of these organisms; 3) error correction methods for de novo synthesized DNA; 4) Control systems and safety standards for engineered organisms. I received my bachelors degree in biochemistry from Harvard College and my Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biophysics from Columbia University.
[lab website] [carr at mit dot edu]

Domitilla Del Vecchio

My group focuses on the foundations of modular design in biomolecular circuits through a combined theoretical approach (based on control theory) and experimental approach (based on simple gene and signaling circuits fabricated in E. coli). In particular, we are investigating impedance-like effects, called retroactivity, the design of insulation devices to buffer systems from retroactivity, fundamental limitations in signal transmission, energetic transactions among cellular components, and loading problems on the cellular chassis.
[lab website] [ddv at mit dot edu]

Natalie Kuldell

Natalie Kuldell teaches in the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT. She develops discovery-based curricula drawn from the current literature to engage undergraduate students in structured, reasonably authentic laboratory and project-based experiences. After graduating from Cornell University with an undergraduate degree in chemistry, Natalie spent a year dancing professionally in Boston. She completed her doctoral and post-doctoral work at Harvard Medical School, and then taught at Wellesley College before joining the faculty at MIT. Natalie is the director of a non-profit, web-based resource called BioBuilder to teach synthetic biology. She also spearheads COPUS, a nationwide education and outreach network to promote the public understanding of science. Her research examines gene expression in eukaryotic cells, focusing most recently on synthetic biology and redesign of the yeast mitochondria.
[lab website] [nkuldell at mit dot edu]

Michael Laub

Michael Laub is an Associate Professor of Biology at MIT and an Early Career Scientist of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His laboratory studies signal transduction and information-processing in bacteria. One major focus is understanding the design principles and evolution of two-component signaling pathways, one of the primary means by which bacteria sense and respond to their environment. By developing a better understanding of how these pathways perceive signals and faithfully transduce them into physiological changes we hope to provide the foundation for using them in synthetic circuits.
[lab website] [laub at mit dot edu]

Timothy Lu

Timothy Lu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Tim received his undergraduate and M.Eng. degrees from MIT in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He obtained an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and Ph.D. from the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Medical Engineering and Medical Physics Program. Tim has won the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize, Grand Prize in the National Inventor Hall of Fame's Collegiate Inventors Competition, and the Leon Reznick Memorial Prize for "outstanding performance in research" from Harvard Medical School. He has also been selected as a Kavli Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences and a Siebel Scholar. Outside of the lab, Tim enjoys playing volleyball and tennis.
[lab website] [timlu at mit dot edu]

Kristala Jones Prather

Kristala Jones Prather is the Theodore T. Miller Career Development Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.  Her research interests are centered on the design and assembly of recombinant microorganisms for the production of small molecules, with additional efforts in novel bioprocess design approaches.  Research combines the traditions of metabolic engineering with the practices of biocatalysis to expand and optimize the biosynthetic capacity of microbial systems.  A particular focus is the elucidation of design principles for the production of unnatural organic compounds within the framework of the burgeoning field of synthetic biology.
[lab website] [kljpl at mit dot edu]

Rahul Sarpeshkar

Rahul Sarpeshkar obtained Bachelor's degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics at MIT. After completing his PhD at Caltech, he joined Bell Labs as a member of technical staff in the department of Biological Computation within its Physics division. Since 1999, he has been on the faculty of MIT's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department where he heads a research group on Analog Circuits and Biological Systems. He holds over twenty five patents and has authored more than 100 publications including one featured on the cover of NATURE. His invention of cytomorphic electronics, described in his recent book, Ultra Low Power Bioelectronics: Fundamentals, Biomedical Applications, and Bio-inspired Systems has established an important bridge between electronics and chemistry and lays a foundation for a rigorous analog circuits approach to systems biology and synthetic biology. He has received several awards including the NSF Career Award, the ONR Young Investigator Award, the Packard Fellows Award and the Indus Technovator Award.
[lab website] [rahuls at mit dot edu]

Christopher Voigt, Co-Director

We are developing a basis by which cells can be programmed like robots to perform complex, coordinated tasks for pharmaceutical and industrial applications. We are engineering new sensors that give bacteria the senses of touch, sight, and smell. Genetic circuits — analogous to their electronic counterparts — are built to integrate the signals from the various sensors. Finally, the output of the gene circuits is used to control cellular processes. We are also developing theoretical tools from statistical mechanics and non-linear dynamics to understand how to combine genetic devices and predict their collective behavior.
[lab website] [cavoigt at gmail dot com]

Ron Weiss, Director

My research focuses on programming new cellular behaviors by designing and embedding synthetic gene networks that perform desired functions in single cells and multi-cellular environments. We genetically engineer a variety of cell types including bacteria, yeast, and mammalian cells (including stem cells). This nascent field of synthetic biology holds promise for a wide range of applications such as programmed tissue engineering, cancer therapeutics, environmental biosensing and effecting, biomaterial fabrication, and an improved understanding of naturally occuring biological processes.
[lab website] [rweiss at mit dot edu]

Feng Zhang

Feng Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at MIT and a Core Faculty Member at the Broad Institute. Integrating both of human stem cell and animal models, his laboratory invents and applies synthetic biology solutions to address important human health problems. Feng received his AB from Harvard and PhD from Stanford, where he pioneered the optogenetics technology for controlling brain circuits using light. He served as a Junior Fellow at Harvard's Society of Fellows, where he developed a new genome engineering platform based on the microbial TAL effectors (TALEs). Feng is a recipient of the McKnight Technological Innovation and Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation awards.
[lab website] [zhang_f at mit dot edu]