Engineering Biology Club: Session 2

Engineering Biology Club

Session two

Thursday, November 7th, 2024
5:30-7:30pm
Ginkgo Event Space
19 Fid Kennedy Ave, Boston MA 02210 (maps

A live event for anyone interested in making biology easier to engineer. A meeting place for researchers and professionals to discuss the emerging biotech tool stack: synthetic biology, automation, software, AI, and more!

Join us in the Boston Seaport to connect with people who build with biology. Drinks, snacks, presentations and fascinating discussions will be provided.

Interested in giving a 1-3 minute lightning talk? Sign up here!

This event has already happened. Look out for our next upcoming Engineering Biology Club session.

What’s on the agenda?

Jake Wintermute (Ginkgo Bioworks) will host Engineering Biology Club, prompting discussion and sharing news from the engineering biology world.

Fabio Caliendo (MIT) will present his work on a biosensor technology for real-time monitoring of endogenous gene expression, enabling highly tunable and context-aware responses at the single-cell level. This technology, which enables real-time monitoring of endogenous gene activity while maintaining gene integrity, holds significant potential for a wide range of applications, from biomanufacturing to cell fate control and cell-based therapies.

Featured Speakers

Fabio Caliendo, PhD

Department of Biological Engineering, MIT

Dr. Caliendo is a Research Scientist in the Department of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Caliendo earned his Ph.D. in Clinical and Experimental Immunology at the University of Genoa (Italy), where he investigated the molecular mechanisms regulating the antitumor immune response in natural killer cells.

Upon completing his Ph.D., Dr. Caliendo transitioned into the field of synthetic biology, first as a postdoctoral associate at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) and then at MIT, joining the lab of Professor Ron Weiss.

At MIT, Dr. Caliendo developed a biosensor technology for real-time monitoring of endogenous gene expression, enabling highly tunable and context-aware responses at the single-cell level. At the core of this technology is the capability of integrating synthetic non-coding RNAs into the locus of the endogenous genes of interest without altering the gene’s coding sequences. This technology, which enables real-time monitoring of endogenous gene activity while maintaining gene integrity, holds significant potential for a wide range of applications, from biomanufacturing to cell fate control and cell-based therapies.

Jake Wintermute, PhD

Developer Evangelist at Ginkgo Bioworks

Jake Wintermute holds a PhD in systems biology from Harvard University, where his doctoral work focused on metabolic engineering and the dynamics of microbial communities. Before coming to Ginkgo, Jake spent 10 years as a teacher, researcher and group leader at the CRI in Paris, France, where his lab studied drug discovery for neglected diseases, citizen science and synbio education. As Ginkgo’s Developer Evangelist, his misson is to grow the biotech ecosystem, to diversify the bioeconomy, and to provide education, documentation and support for developers bringing new projects to Ginkgo’s platform.