Our research focuses on developing Synthetic Biological Materials (SBMs) manufactured by bacteria and derived from sustainable sources to transform the plastics economy.
Our convergent team spans across the fields of synthetic biology, biotechnology, machine learning, social sciences, materials science, and mechanics.
Foston Lab
Marcus Foston’s research seeks to develop innovative and novel routes to exploit and utilize lignocellulosic biomass, taking advantage of materials involved in industries such as agriculture, papermaking, and forestry products.
Research Interests:
• Sustainable conversion of biomass into chemicals using liquid-phase, heterogeneous catalysis.
• Interfacing the catalytic depolymerization of biomass with microbial utilization.
• Understanding how the plant cell respond to mechanical stimulus
Garnett Lab
Researches Bayesian machine learning for automating scientific discovery
Research Interests: Develop new Bayesian machine-learning techniques for sequential decision making under uncertainty. He is particularly interested in active learning—especially with atypical objectives—Bayesian optimization, intelligent approaches to approximate Bayesian inference, and Bayesian quadrature. He is also interested in learning problems involving large-scale graph data.
Genin Lab
Guy Genin’s research focuses on interfaces between tissues at the attachment of tendon to bone, between cells in cardiac fibrosis, and between protein structures at the periphery of plant and animal cells.
Research Interests:
• Mechanobiology
• Biomechanics
• Quantitative image analysis
• Interfaces and adhesion in nature, physiology, and engineering
Keten Lab
Research Interests: Lab research is on computational materials science and mechanics, emphasizing two areas: (1) nanostructured polymeric materials and (2) biomolecular and bioinspired materials. His lab’s goal is to establish theory and simulation-driven approaches to understanding the physics of soft materials at multiple-length scales, typically utilizing molecular dynamics and theoretical approaches.
Mba-Wright Lab
Research Interests:
- Energy Systems Analysis
Mba-Wright’s lab investigates the cost and performance of energy systems. Their research interests include techno-economics, process modeling, and energy conversion. Recent projects investigated the costs and emissions of biomass conversion to gasoline and diesel. - Biomass Conversion Technologies
Mba-Wright’s lab researches novel ways of converting biomass into fuels. Their current work is on low-temperature thermochemical conversion (torrefaction and pyrolysis) of lignocellulosic biomass for the production of platform chemicals and fuels.
Ryan Lab
Research Interests:
Industrial Organization, Applied Microeconometrics, Dynamic Games, Environmental Regulation, Health Economics
Expertise:
Econometrics, Environmental Economics, Health Economics
Werder Lab
Werder’s expertise involves strategic communication messaging and interdisciplinary strategic communication. Werder’s lab will lead efforts involving understanding social barriers to synthetic biomaterials adoption.
Research Interests:
Werder’s research expertise includes message strategy effects, corporate social responsibility, crisis management, leadership in public relations, and student learning outcomes assessment. She specializes in survey and experimental research methodologies.
Zhang Lab
Uses synthetic biology to produce better biofuels, chemicals and high-performance materials from engineered microbes
Research Interests: Develop synthetic biology tools and systems for the sustainable production of structurally-defined chemicals and high-performance materials. Current research projects include: (1) engineering microbial metabolic dynamics and heterogeneity; (2) engineering metabolic pathways to produce structure-defined biofuels and chemicals; (3) developing microbial factories to produce high-performance materials.