Program Leadership

Christopher Chen, MD/PhD, Prof. of BME, Director of BDC: Dr. Chen’s research is focused on understanding how coordinated assembly of cells can lead to functional tissue structures.  The Chen lab is using synthetic biology approaches to study and control transcription and signaling pathways as a means to gain insights into these mechanisms.

Pankaj Mehta, PhD, Assoc. Prof. of Physics: Dr. Mehta is interested in understanding how large-scale, collective behaviors observed in biological systems emerge from the interaction of many individual molecular elements, and how these interactions allow cells to perform complex computations in response to environmental cues.  Dr. Mehta is leveraging his expertise at the interface of theoretical physics and biology to help design and understand synthetic biological systems.

Allyson Sgro, PhD, Asst. Prof. of BME: The goal of Dr. Sgro’s research is to link single-cell signaling dynamics to multicellular decision making. Dr. Sgro is using synthetic biology to develop novel tools and biosensors to understand multicellular biochemical signaling rules and to reprogram multicellular systems for medical or biotechnological applications.