Introduction to Biology Learning Circle, Facilitator

Sébastien Vigneau is a research scientist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute where his work aims at understanding how tumor diversity relates to cancer progression. He also loves teaching and experimenting with new approaches to learning. Sébastien completed his PhD at Pasteur Institute (Paris) followed by post-docs at UPenn (Philadelphia) and Dana-Farber (Boston). His expertise is primarily in molecular biology, gene expression, and epigenetics using both wet-lab and bioinformatics approaches. He brings his experience to BosLab by organizing and facilitating an introduction to biology learning circle.

Biotech Fundamentals, Instructor

Kellen is a cell and molecular biologist excited by synthetic biology and bioengineering. He loves the creative aspects of research and sharing his enthusiasm for science. Kellen received a PhD in cell and molecular biology from Boston University for research in molecular immunology characterizing how small differences in proteins can impact the human antiviral response. He has years of experience teaching introductory biology laboratories and immunology discussion sections at BU. In addition to his training in molecular immunology, he is fascinated by plants and his favorite family of viruses is the Adenoviridae.

Biotech Fundamentals, Instructor

Sanda Zolj received her PhD in Cell and Molecular biology from Boston University. She has taught for over 8 years at BU in both laboratory and lecture based genetics/molecular biology courses. Sanda enjoys science communication and making complex biology concepts accessible to all. Her specialty is plant genetics. She studies unknown and undefined aspects of innate immunity pathways in plants. She has a passion for understanding the impact that plant diseases have on agriculture and food production in light of the complex role that climate change plays in these interactions.

DNA Forensics Laboratory, Instructor

Larry Melnick earned his PhD at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He currently presides over the biotech start up Embeca Biosciences LLC working with RNA based solutions to drug targeting. Larry worked for 25 years in biotechnology and pharmaceutical drug discovery including research at Collaborative Research Inc. and Sepracor, now Sunovion. His work includes research in a variety of areas ranging from modeling viral drug resistance to design of pharmaceuticals, including opioids, with reduced side effects. Dr. Melnick has been a member of Genspace in New York City and now BosLab community biology laboratories. He brings his experience working with recombinant DNA to the course on forensic DNA profiling.

Molecular Biology and Synthetic Biology Journal Clubs, Organizer

Chris graduated from the Clarion University of Pennsylvania in 2017 with a BS in Molecular Biology/Biotechnology. He is deeply interested in synthetic biology, astrobiology, molecular biology, and medicine. Chris hopes to apply these interests to problems like disease, energy, and terraforming Mars and answering questions about our place in the universe. At BOSLab, he is currently working to build a strain of yeast to biodegrade plastic and another to synthesize perfume.

Introduction to Metabolic Engineering, Instructor

Anat graduated from Union College with a BS in Biomedical Engineering, and is pursuing opportunities in academia and industry related to synthetic biology/biomaterials. Anat also leads the DIY Bioprinting Initiative at Boslab, and always seeks inspiration in biology to solve problems. His long term goal is to lead the commercialization of Engineered Living Materials (ELMs) - a refreshing approach to materials science by merging the built and natural environment.