About

As a graduate student instructor in the spring 2007, Jeff organized and developed the syllabus and material for the course 'Implications and Applications of Synthetic Biology.' His position also entailed creating a final group design project and leading approximately 30 undergraduate and graduate students in weekly class discussions on scientific papers in the field. Also, for the past four years he has been an active participant in the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC). By participating in multi-university research collaborations, Jeffrey is actively shaping the direction of synthetic biology. Lastly, he is actively engaged in mentoring both undergraduate and high school students. Over the past two years, he has actively mentored two UC-Berkeley undergraduate students seeking to gain laboratory experience and also mentors an under-privileged high school student in San Francisco. Research-wise, following graduating from Rice University in 2005 with a B.S. in bioengineering Jeff began working on his Ph.D. in Dr. Jay Keasling's laboratory at UC-Berkeley. His research focus is on developing novel methods to evolve biofuel and bioplastic producing microbes. More specifically, he is engineering small molecule-binding transcription factors to serve as biosensors for the in vivo production of our target compounds. Jeff has interests in synthetic biology and biofuels, however, is not restricted to the laboratory and is actively writing white papers and business plans on his research interests. Recently, he lead a team writing a business plan centered on his Ph.D. research that was awarded a grant directed toward de-risking and further developing the technology for broader industry adoption.

Education

UC Berkeley

Ph.D. , Bioengineering

Class of 2010

Awards & Publications