April 2018

Prof. Howard Salis is an Associate Professor of Biological Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Synthetic Biology. He earned a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rutgers University. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. His research lab develops predictive biophysical models of gene expression and regulation that have enabled automated computational design of synthetic genetic systems, including biosensors, genetic circuits, metabolic pathways, and synthetic genomes....Read more

Hemai Parthasarathy is the Scientific Director of the Thiel Foundation and its program to support radical, science-based, startup companies, Breakout Labs. She is responsible for establishing the scientific priorities of the program, evaluating submitted proposals, and advising portfolio companies. She is also a Partner in Breakout Ventures, a new, early stage fund that backs bold scientist-entrepreneurs working at the intersections of technology, biology, materials, and energy. Previously, Hemai served as the North American Editor for Nature and was a founding editor of PLOS, the open-...Read more