Sunday
2:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Arrival and Check-in
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm
Introductory Comments by GRC Staff / Welcome and Introduction from the Chairs
7:40 pm - 9:30 pm
Genome Design
Discussion Leader: Caleb Bashor (Rice University, United States)
7:40 pm - 7:45 pm
Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:45 pm - 8:10 pm
Hiroaki Suga (University of Tokyo, Japan)
"Practical Applications by In Vitro Genetic Code Reprogramming"
8:10 pm - 8:20 pm
Discussion
8:20 pm - 8:45 pm
B Thuronyi (Williams College, United States)
"CloneCoordinate: A Lab-Scale Foundry for Collaborative DNA Construction"
8:45 pm - 8:55 pm
Discussion
8:55 pm - 9:20 pm
Tanya Tschirhart (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, United States)
"Genome Engineering and Reduction of the Fast-Growing Vibrio Natriegens"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm
Discussion
Monday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Genetic Circuit Design
Discussion Leader: Evan Scott (Northwestern University, United States)
9:00 am - 9:10 am
Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:10 am - 9:35 am
Caleb Bashor (Rice University, United States)
"Diversity-Driven Regulatory Circuit Engineering"
9:35 am - 9:45 am
Discussion
9:45 am - 10:10 am
Lacramioara Bintu (Stanford University, United States)
"The Sequence Determinants of Human Transcriptional Activators and Repressors: High-Throughput Discovery and Systematic Perturbations"
10:10 am - 10:20 am
Discussion
10:20 am - 10:55 am
Coffee Break
10:55 am - 11:20 am
Katie Galloway (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States)
"Engineering High-Precision, Dynamic Genetic Control Systems for Cellular Reprogramming"
11:20 am - 11:30 am
Discussion
11:30 am - 11:45 am
Jingyao Chen (Boston University, United States)
"Cell-Free Recombinase Genetic Circuit for Biological Memory Storage"
11:45 am - 11:55 am
Discussion
11:55 am - 12:20 pm
Justin English (University of Utah, Department of Biochemistry, United States)
"Improved Platforms for Mammalian Directed Evolution with VEGAS"
12:20 pm - 12:30 pm
Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Free Time
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
The GRC Power Hour™
The GRC Power Hour™ is designed to address diversity and inclusion in the scientific workplace by providing a safe environment for informal and meaningful conversations amongst colleagues of all career stages. The program supports the professional growth of all members of our communities, including ethnicity, race and/or gender identity by providing an open forum for discussion and mentoring.
Organizers: Tara Deans (University of Utah, United States) and Una Nattermann (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States)
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Biomolecule Design
Discussion Leader: Elizabeth Wayne (Carnegie Mellon University, United States)
7:30 pm - 7:50 pm
Ming Hammond (University of Utah, United States)
"Principles and Applications for Engineering Fluorescent Biosensors"
7:50 pm - 8:00 pm
Discussion
8:00 pm - 8:20 pm
Lukasz Bugaj (University of Pennsylvania, United States)
"A Temperature-Inducible Protein Switch for Control of Mammalian Cell Fate"
8:20 pm - 8:30 pm
Discussion
8:30 pm - 8:50 pm
Xiaojing Gao (Stanford University, United States)
"Mammalian Synthetic Biology: Circuits As Medicine"
8:50 pm - 9:00 pm
Discussion
9:00 pm - 9:20 pm
Scott Coyle (University of Wisconsin, Madison, United States)
"Programmable Reaction-Diffusion Systems for Spatiotemporal Cell Signaling Circuit Design"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm
Discussion
Tuesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Synthetic Immunology
Discussion Leader: Tae Seok Moon (Engineering Biology Research Consortium, United States)
9:00 am - 9:10 am
Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:10 am - 9:35 am
Elizabeth Wayne (Carnegie Mellon University, United States)
"Designing Responsive Element Reporter Systems to Understand Monocyte Cell Fate Decisions"
9:35 am - 9:45 am
Discussion
9:45 am - 10:10 am
Kole Roybal (University of California, San Francisco, United States)
"Towards the Development of Synthetic Immunity to Cancer"
10:10 am - 10:20 am
Discussion
10:20 am - 10:55 am
Coffee Break
10:55 am - 11:10 am
Nidhi Shukla (Case Western Reserve University, United States)
"Unraveling the Role of ACE2 Abundance and its Sequences in Viral Entry: Multiplex Measurements Through Kozak Sequence Modulation"
11:10 am - 11:20 am
Discussion
11:20 am - 11:45 am
Sai Reddy (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
"Synthetic Co-Evolution of Neutralizing Antibodies and SARS-CoV-2"
11:45 am - 11:55 am
Discussion
11:55 am - 12:20 pm
Evan Scott (Northwestern University, United States)
"Engineering the Bio/Nano Interface of Soft Nanobiomaterials for Immunotherapy"
12:20 pm - 12:30 pm
Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Plant Tools and Pathways
Discussion Leader: Pulin Li (Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research / MIT, United States)
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm
Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:40 pm - 8:20 pm
Elizabeth Sattely (Stanford University and HHMI, United States)
"Rewiring Plant Pathways for Plant and Human Health"
8:20 pm - 8:30 pm
Discussion
8:30 pm - 8:50 pm
Yanran Li (University of California Riverside, United States)
"Harnessing Microbial Cell Factories to Decipher Plant Secondary Metabolism"
8:50 pm - 9:00 pm
Discussion
9:00 pm - 9:20 pm
Jing-Ke Weng (Northeastern University, United States)
"How to Build a New Enzyme: Lessons Learned From Plants"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm
Discussion
Wednesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am
Group Photo
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Microbial Cell Engineering
Discussion Leader: Seth Rakoff-Nahoum (Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, United States)
9:00 am - 9:10 am
Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:10 am - 9:35 am
Kevin Solomon (University of Delaware, United States)
"Prokaryotic Argonautes and the Quest for More Flexible Gene Editing Technologies"
9:35 am - 9:45 am
Discussion
9:45 am - 10:10 am
Elizabeth Onderko (Capra Biosciences, United States)
"Synthetic Biology with Non-Model Organisms for Industrial Biotechnology"
10:10 am - 10:20 am
Discussion
10:20 am - 10:50 am
Coffee Break
10:50 am - 11:15 am
Howard Salis (Pennsylvania State University, United States)
"Design of an Emerald City for Gigascale Carbon Dioxide Sequestration and Bioconversion"
11:15 am - 11:25 am
Discussion
11:25 am - 11:45 am
Emma Chory (Duke University, United States)
"Talk Title TBA"
11:45 am - 11:55 am
Discussion
11:55 am - 12:15 pm
Ahmed Badran (The Scripps Research Institute, United States)
"Intracellular RuBisCO Monitoring through Metabolic Orthogonalization and Retro-Biosynthesis"
12:15 pm - 12:30 pm
Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Multicellular and Tissue Design
Discussion Leader: Justin English (University of Utah, Department of Biochemistry, United States)
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm
Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:40 pm - 8:05 pm
Pulin Li (Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research / MIT, United States)
"Controlling Cell-Cell Communication in Space"
8:05 pm - 8:15 pm
Discussion
8:15 pm - 8:30 pm
Beatrice Ramm (Princeton University, United States)
"Synthetic Ligand Release Circuits for Multicellular Pattern Formation"
8:30 pm - 8:35 pm
Discussion
8:35 pm - 9:00 pm
John Ngo (Boston University, United States)
"Navigating the Invisible and the Inevitable: Sensing Forces and Aging for Tissue Regeneration and Design"
9:00 pm - 9:10 pm
Discussion
9:10 pm - 9:30 pm
General Discussion
Thursday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am
Business Meeting
Nominations for the Next Vice Chair(s); Complete the GRC Evaluation Forms; Discuss Future Dates and Venue; Election of the Next Vice Chair(s)
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Microbiomes
Discussion Leader: Ahmed Badran (The Scripps Research Institute, United States)
9:00 am - 9:10 am
Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:10 am - 9:35 am
Matthew Chang (National University of Singapore, Singapore)
"Engineering Microbes to Rewire Host-Microbiome Interactions"
9:35 am - 9:45 am
Discussion
9:45 am - 10:10 am
Seth Rakoff-Nahoum (Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, United States)
"Top Down and Bottom Up Approaches to Understand Host-associated Microbiomes"
10:10 am - 10:20 am
Discussion
10:20 am - 10:55 am
Coffee Break
10:55 am - 11:10 am
Antonio Tinoco Valencia (Harvard University, United States)
"Discovery of the Bacterial Metalloenzyme IsmB Revises the Pathway for Cholesterol Metabolism by the Human Gut Microbiome"
11:10 am - 11:20 am
Discussion
11:20 am - 11:45 am
Harris Wang (Columbia University, United States)
"Mapping and Engineering Microbiomes of the Mammalian Gut and in Soil Environments"
11:45 am - 11:55 am
Discussion
11:55 am - 12:20 pm
Angela Brown (Lehigh University, United States)
"Synthetic Biology Approaches to Overcome Mechanisms of Antibiotic Resistance"
12:20 pm - 12:30 pm
Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Molecules and Medicines
Discussion Leader: Elizabeth Onderko (Capra Biosciences, United States)
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm
General Discussion
7:40 pm - 7:50 pm
Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:50 pm - 8:10 pm
Akos Nyerges (Harvard Medical School, United States)
"Engineering a Synthetic Bacterial Genome with a 57-codon Genetic Code"
8:10 pm - 8:20 pm
Discussion
8:20 pm - 8:40 pm
Emily Derbyshire (Duke University, United States)
"Interdisciplinary Approaches to Reveal Plasmodium Parasite Vulnerabilities"
8:40 pm - 8:50 pm
Discussion
8:50 pm - 9:10 pm
Narendra Maheshri (Ginkgo Bioworks, United States)
"Biology by Design: Mammalian Screening at Scale"
9:10 pm - 9:20 pm
Discussion
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm
Closing Remarks
Friday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
9:00 am
Departure