Welcome!
A bit about me and my research
I'm fascinated by the designability of biological systems, which motivates me to develop synthetic biology tools and, using these tools, engineer genomes for applications that are not attainable with existing biology. Throughout my career, I pioneered techniques to engineer and evolve RNAs, proteins, and DNA up to entire genomes, and harnessed these techniques to understand drug resistance, prevent viral infections, block horizontal gene transfer & biocontain organisms, and generate drugs and proteins with enhanced capabilities.
More about my research & publications.
Currently, I'm an NIH/NIBIB K99-funded Postdoctoral Research Associate with George M. Church at Harvard Medical School. My postdoctoral work focuses on genome synthesis and genetic code engineering for virus resistance, biocontainment, and the production of genetically encoded unnatural polymers. Prior to Harvard, as a Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds Ph.D. Fellow in Hungary, I developed synthetic biology tools for directed evolution and genome engineering and utilized these tools for rational antibiotic design and development. During my undergraduate research, I developed a broad-host-range genome editing system that is now widely used for microbial genome engineering. Most recently, I received a K99/R00 Award from the US National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, with which I am working on the clinical translation of my recent discoveries.
My long-term goal is to construct biological systems with functions not available in existing organisms. My lab will merge genome & genetic code engineering, drug development & directed evolution to enable therapeutic and industrial applications that are not attainable with existing cell-based systems or biopolymers.
Intermolecular interactions of a nonstandard amino acid within an aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase enzyme. The rational engineering of these interactions paves the way for novel, genetically encoded biopolymers and enables tight - potentially escape-free - biocontainment for living organisms.
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