PIERRE MEULIEN
(President and CEO, Genome Canada) Dr. Pierre Meulien was appointed President and CEO of
Genome Canada in October 2010. Prior to this appointment, he served as Chief
Scientific Officer for Genome British Columbia from 2007 to 2010. From 2002 to
2007, Dr. Meulien served as the founding CEO of the Dublin Molecular Medicine
Centre (now Molecular Medicine Ireland) which linked the three medical schools
and six teaching hospitals in Dublin to build a critical mass in molecular
medicine and translational research. The Centre managed the Euro 45 Million
“Program for Human Genomics” financed by the Irish government and was
responsible for coordinating the successful application for the first Welcome
Trust funded Clinical Research Centre to be set up in Ireland. For over 20
years, Dr. Meulien has managed expert research teams with a number of
organizations, including Aventis Pasteur in Toronto (Senior Vice President of
R&D), and in Lyon, France (Director of Research). He also spent seven years
with the French biotechnology company Transgene in Strasbourg, France as a research
scientist and part of the management team. Dr. Meulien’s academic credentials
include a PhD from the University of Edinburgh and a post-doctoral appointment
at the Institut Pasteur in Paris.
JAY KEASLING (Department
of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley) Jay Keasling received his B.S. in Chemistry and
Biology from the University of Nebraska in 1986; his Ph. D. in Chemical
Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1991; and did post-doctoral work
in Biochemistry at Stanford University from 1991-1992. Keasling joined the
Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley as
an assistant professor in 1992, where he is currently the Hubbard Howe
Distinguished Professor of Biochemical Engineering. Keasling is also a
professor in the Department of Bioengineering at Berkeley, a Sr. Faculty
Scientist and Associate Laboratory Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory and Chief Executive Officer of the Joint BioEnergy Institute. Dr.
Keasling’s research focuses on engineering microorganisms for environmentally
friendly synthesis of small molecules or degradation of environmental
contaminants. Keasling’s laboratory has engineered bacteria and yeast to
produce polymers, a precursor to the anti-malarial drug artemisinin, and advanced
biofuels and soil microorganisms to accumulate uranium and to degrade nerve
agents. SUNIL
CHANDRAN (Amyris Inc.) Dr.
Chandran is the head of the Automated Strain Engineering (ASE) group at Amyris
Inc. Their mission is to provide a platform for high-throughput rational strain
engineering and hypotheses testing. His main interests are in the engineering
of metabolic pathways to enable the sustainable and cost-effective
industrial-scale production of a wide-range of chemicals, and in developing
molecular biology tools that enable strain engineering to occur at a rapid
pace. Dr.
Chandran obtained a Bachelors degree in Chemistry from Mumbai University,
India; a Masters degree in Organic chemistry from the Indian Institute of
Technology, Mumbai; a Ph.D. in Organic chemistry from Michigan State University
with Prof. John Frost; and a post-doctoral fellowship in Biochemistry with
Prof. Ronald Raines at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. PETER FACCHINI (Department of Biological
Sciences, University of Calgary) Dr. Peter Facchini is Professor of Plant Biochemistry
in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary and holds
the Canada Research Chair in Plant Metabolic Processes Biotechnology. He
obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1991 and conducted
postdoctoral research at the University of Kentucky and the Université de
Montréal prior to his faculty appointment at the University of Calgary in 1995.
His research is focused on basic and applied aspects of specialized metabolite
production in plants and microbes. In particular, he has been working for the
past two decades toward a comprehensive understanding of the biochemistry,
molecular and cell biology of pharmaceutical alkaloid metabolism in opium
poppy, and he is regarded as the international authority in the field. His
research team has made numerous important scientific contributions including
the isolation of several key genes involved in the biosynthesis of morphine,
codeine and other compounds, the establishment of the world’s largest
collection of genomics resources for opium poppy and related plants, the
identification of the specific cell types that participate in alkaloid
biosynthesis, and the metabolic engineering of economically important plants.
His research is funded from diverse sources ranging from the Natural Sciences
and Engineering Research Council of Canada to industrial contracts. He has been
awarded two Canada Foundation for Innovation grants for major research
infrastructure, and is the Project Leader for a large-scale Genome Canada grant
(www.phytometasyn.com) aimed at the commercial
production of high-value plant metabolites in synthetic biosystems. He has
published over 100 research papers and scholarly articles. Among numerous media
appearances, his work has been featured on the CBC National News and the Discovery
Channel, in the Globe and Mail and the National Post, and in newspapers and
current events programs around the world. He received the C.D. Nelson Award in
2003 from the Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists as the outstanding young
plant biologist in Canada. RON WEISS
(Department of Biological
Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Ron Weiss is an Associate Professor in the Department
of Biological Engineering and in the Department of Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He currently
serves as the Director of MIT’s newly formed Synthetic Biology Center. Weiss received his PhD from MIT in 2001 and
held a faculty appointment at Princeton University between 2001 and 2009. His
research focuses primarily on synthetic biology, where he programs cell
behavior by constructing and modeling biochemical and cellular computing
systems. A major thrust of his work is the synthesis of gene networks that are
engineered to perform in vivo analog and digital logic computation. He is also
interested in programming cell aggregates to perform coordinated tasks using
cell-cell communication with chemical diffusion mechanisms such as quorum
sensing. He has constructed and tested several novel in vivo biochemical logic
circuits and intercellular communication systems. Weiss is interested in both
hands-on experimental work and in implementing software infrastructures for
simulation and design work. For his work in synthetic biology, Weiss has
received MIT's Technology Review Magazine's TR100 Award ("top 100 young
innovators", 2003), was selected as a speaker for the National Academy of
Engineering's Frontiers of Engineering Symposium (2003), received the E.
Lawrence Keyes, Jr./Emerson Electric Company Faculty Advancement Award at
Princeton University (2003), his research in Synthetic Biology was named by
MIT's Technology Review Magazine as one of "10 emerging technologies that
will change your world" (2004), was chosen as a finalist for the World
Technology Network’s Biotechnology Award (2004), and was selected as a speaker
for the National Academy of Sciences Frontiers of Science Symposium
(2005).
PAMELA SILVER
(Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School and The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University)
Pamela Silver is the Elliot T and Onie H Adams Professor of Biochemistry and Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. She received her BS in Chemistry and PhD in Biochemistry from the University of California where she was an NIH Pre-doctoral Fellow. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University where she was a Fellow of the American Cancer Society and The Medical Foundation. Subsequently, she was an Assistant Professor in Molecular Biology at Princeton University where she was an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, a Scholar of the March of Dimes and an NSF Presidential Young Investigator. She moved to Harvard Medical School where she was a Professor in the Dept of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology. She was named a Claudia Adams Barr Investigator and awarded the Mentoring Award for the PhD Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Harvard Medical School. In 2004, she became one of the first members of the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School and the first Director of the Harvard University PhD Program in Systems Biology. In 2009, she became one of the founding members of the Harvard University Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Her work was recognized by an Innovation Award at BIO2007 and has been funded by grants from the NIH, DOD, DOE, DATPA, NSF, Novartis, Merck and The Keck Foundation. She currently holds an NIH MERIT award. She has served on numerous government and private advisory panels. She was recently appointed as a Fellow of the Radcliffe Institute. Her laboratory works in diverse areas of Systems and Synthetic Biology. The main focus areas include predictable design and re-programming of biological systems and designing sustainability.
RADHAKRISHNAN MAHADEVAN
(Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto)
Dr. Mahadevan received his B.Tech (1997) from Indian Institute of Technology, India and Ph.D. (2002) from University of Delaware, U.S.A, both in Chemical Engineering. He then worked as research scientist in both university and private sectors: University of Massachusetts, Genomatica Inc., University of California, University of Delaware, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company.
Prof. Mahadevan’s research interests include: modeling and analysis of metabolic and regulatory networks, systems biology, metabolic engineering, bioremediation, bioenergy and bioprocess optimization. His lab is focused on developing methods and tools for computational representing cellular function such as metabolism. Our ability to query biological systems allows the identification of the key players in metabolism and their interactions. Such knowledge can be transferred into a mathematical model, which is then used to drive the rational design of cellular function analogous to the design of devices and machines in engineering. Our lab uses such a model-based approach to engineer cells to make fuels, chemical, electricity as well as clean-up ground water.
MATTHEW SCOTT
(Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo)
Dr. Scott’s research is directed toward reverse-engineering the last universal ancestor of life as we now see it. A fundamental element of that program is to determine constraints on gene expression imposed by autonomous reproduction and growth. Recently, several empirical relations linking growth rate and gene expression were established in bacteria that suggest that biological complexity may belie simple operating principles.
Dr. Scott received his B.Sc. (1998) in Chemistry from the University of Calgary and his Ph.D. (2005) in Applied Mathematics from the University of Waterloo. He then worked as a Postdoctoral fellow at The Center for Theoretical Biological Physics at the University of California, San Diego (Supervisor: Terry Hwa).
MADS KAERN
(Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa)
Dr. Kaern is a promising young scientist who has authored over 30 scientific publications collectively cited more than 1000 times. With expertise in yeast genomics, genetic engineering, dynamical systems theory and computational modelling, Dr. Kaern focuses on complex gene regulatory processes. This research aims at understanding fundamental properties governing cellular signal processing and transduction to facilitate advances in biotechnology, biopharmaceutical and biomedicine. He is the founder and senior advisor of the University of Ottawa Genetically Engineered Machines technology incubator.
Dr. Kaern received his B.Sc. (1995) and M.Sc. (1997) from the University of Copenhagen. He was a doctoral stipendiary with the Danish Research Academy from 1997 to 2000, and completed his Ph.D. thesis research on chemical and biological morphogenesis at the University of Toronto in 2001. As a postdoctoral fellow of the Danish Research agency, he went to Boston University’s Department of Biomedical Engineering working with McArthur “Genius” Award recipient Dr. James Collins and National Academy of Science members Dr. Nancy Kopell and Dr. Charles Cantor.
Dr. Kaern was appointed Canada Research Chair in Systems Biology in 2004. He is a core member of the Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology, and an Assistant Professor of Cellular & Molecular Medicine with cross-appointment in the Department of Physics at the University of Ottawa. He was named among the “Top 50 People in the Capital” by Ottawa Life Magazine in 2005, and received the Government of Ontario’s Early Research Award in 2008. His Canada Research Chair was renewed in 2009.
Dr. Kaern’s research program has received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research; the National Science and Engineering Research Council; the Canadian Foundation for Innovation; the Canadian Research Chair Program; Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation; MITACS and the University of Ottawa.
JOEL BADER (John Hopkins University School of Medicine)
Joel S. Bader, Ph.D.,
(joel.bader@jhu.edu,
www.baderzone.org) is an Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University
in the
Department of Biomedical Engineering and is a member of the High
Throughput
Biology Center at the School of Medicine, with secondary appointments in
Computer Science and Human Genetics.
Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Bader was employed by CuraGen
Corporation (1995-2003) and is co-inventor of the Roche/454 Genome
Sequencer. Dr. Bader has a Ph.D. in Theoretical
Chemistry from U.C. Berkeley (1991), where he was an NSF Predoctoral
Fellow,
and performed post-doctoral research at Columbia University (1992-1995). Dr. Bader has a B.S. in Biochemistry from
Lehigh University (1986, Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi). Research in the Bader lab focuses on
systems and
synthetic biology: mapping and analyzing biological pathways; connecting
genes
and pathways to disease; and designing and building genomes. Work in the Bader lab is funded by NIH, NSF
CAREER, DOE, Microsoft, and the Kleberg Foundation. NATHAN
HILLSON
(Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory – Joint BioEnergy Institute, Berkeley) Dr. Hillson’s research goals are: to coordinate and
direct the development of the JBEI-ICE Repository, the characterization and
standardization of biological parts, the computer-aided design of biological
pathways and circuits invoking the standardized parts, and the automated
assembly of the pathways and incorporation thereof into microbial hosts such as
E. coli and S. cerevisiae, towards the sustainable production of clean
biofuels. Dr. Hillson received his B.A.
(1999) in Physics Computational and Applied Mathematics from Rice University, Houston.
He received his Ph.D. (2004) in Biophysics from Harvard Medical School, Boston.
He then worked as a Postdoctoral fellow in Microbiology at Stanford University
School of Medicine.