Events
Stanford SB hosts community events to help foster engagement between synthetic biology scholars across the University and beyond.
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Upcoming Events
NIH Biotech Training Program Annual Symposium
Hosted by Stanford Department of Bioengineering
When: 1:00 pm - 5:30 pm on Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Where: Mackenzie Room, Jen-Hsun Huang Engineering Center, 475 Via Ortega 3rd Floor
The Stanford NIH Graduate Training Program in Biotechnology trains talented students to be the next generation of interdisciplinary global biotechnology innovators. Hear from some of the top experts in the fields of medicine and engineering, as well as learn about the BTP program directly from the trainees and program mentors.
Stanford Synthetic Biology for Sustainability Symposium
When: 12:00 apm - 6:30 pm on Monday, May 7, 2025
Where: Paul Brest Hall, 555 Salvatierra Walk, Stanford, CA 94305.
The Deans of the School of Medicine, the School of Engineering, and the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability are hosting the Stanford Synthetic Biology for Sustainability Symposium on May 1 at Paul Brest Hall.
Past Events
Scientist to Founder Workshop
Cohosted by FiftyYears x Stanford Synthetic Biology x Stanford Biotech Group
When: 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm on Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Please join us in a special collaborative workshop event with the early-stage VC FiftyYears and the Stanford Biotech Group, where you can explore how to know if your research ideas are translatable into a startup, or if the entrepreneurship world is for you. We’ll be hearing about this and more from Alex Teng, Partner at FiftyYears, followed by a Mix & Mingle with drinks and snacks provided!
When: 12pm - 1pm on Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Talk title: Multiplexed Design and Measurement of Synthetic Receptor Signaling for Next-Generation Engineered Cell Therapies
Daniel B. Goodman, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Cancer Biology at the University of Pennsylvania. His research integrates synthetic biology, bioengineering, and machine learning to design and control immune cell function. By leveraging high-throughput screening, genomic barcoding, and computational modeling, his lab aims to decipher and rewire intracellular signaling networks to advance immunotherapy. A key focus of his work is using large language models to predict and design synthetic receptors, signaling proteins, and regulatory DNA to improve the precision and efficacy of engineered cell therapies for cancer and other diseases.
When: 12pm - 1pm on Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Talk Title: From lab to table: engineering filamentous for delicious and sustainable foods
When: 12pm - 1pm on Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Talk Title: Towards building a synthetic nucleus to control immune cell functions
Hosted by Department of Microbiology & Immunology
When: 11am - 12 pm on Friday, January 31, 2025
Where: Munzer Auditorium
Bacteriophages reinvented: Many different ways to support biocontrol and therapy.
When: 12pm - 1pm on Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Talk Title: Discovering and Engineering of Plant Chemistry for Plant and Human Health.
Hosted by Stanford Biotech Group
When: 5pm on Monday, January 27, 2025
Where: Bass 122
When: 12 pm on Tuesday, Nov 19, 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Talk Title: Engineering proteins to map and manipulate cells
Biopigments Workshop Gallery Reception
When: 3:00 - 6:00 PM on Thursday, Nov 7, 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Thanks to the support from the Office of the Vice Presidents’ Burt McMurtry Arts Initiative Fund, workshop participants from 14 different departments will be introduced to synthetic biology concepts to learn how to grow their fluorescent pigments to paint with. These paintings will be featured at an exhibition and reception on Thursday, November 7, from 3 – 6 PM, in the Shriram Tea Room at the Shriram Center for Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering. Refreshments and appetizers will be included.
Talk Title: Towards predictive spatiotemporal modeling of single cells over time and space.
When: 12 pm on Tuesday, Nov 5, 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
SB Career Explorations: Twist Bioscience
When: 11:30am - 1:30pm on Monday, October 28, 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
What: Are you interested in learning more about working in the Synthetic Biology industry? This career exploration event with Twist Biosciences will bring their scientists on-site who can discuss their work across the Synthetic Biology field. There will also be food and games.
When: 12 pm on Tuesday, Oct 22, 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Talk Title: A Unified Genetic Perturbation Language for Human Cellular Programming
When: 12 pm on Tuesday, Oct 8, 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Talk Title: Harnessing RNA export to monitor and manipulate living cells.
Stanford SB's 1st Anniversary and Welcome Social
When: 3 pm on Tuesday, Sept 24 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Meet the Stanford iGEM team / Undergraduate Research Talk
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
What: 2024 Stanford iGEM team will present their summer research project: facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (fshd) treatment. iGEM, the International Genetically Engineered Machines competition, is an international event where teams create, test, and present their bioscience research projects involving genetic devices. The Stanford team is a group of undergraduate students working on developing a project through a needs-finding process and presenting at the annual Grand Jamboree in Paris in November 2024.
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Towards a Cure: The Prospects of β-Globin Gene Engineering in Eradicating β-Hemoglobinopathies
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, May 21 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Killing Nature to Save It: Conservation, Synthetic Biology, and Ethical Extermination
When: 4:30 - 5:30 pm on Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Where: Shriram 104
Topic: Engineering synthetic regulatory systems in human cells
When: 2:00 - 3:15 pm on Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Where: Clark S360
Join us for a special synthetic biology lecture with Dr. Sang Yup Lee, Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Senior Vice President for Research at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).
When: 4:30 - 5:30 pm on Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Where: Shriram 104
Topic: Tracking Engineered Microbiomes from Space and Over Decades
When: 12:00 pm on Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Where: Mitchell Building, Room 350 (In person) and Virtual
Topic: Join us for an enlightening discussion with Dr. Christina Smolke, Co-founder and CEO of Antheia, as she explores the profound impact of synthetic biology on pharmaceutical biomanufacturing and global sustainability. Dr Smolke is a pioneer in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering, where she has over 20 years of experience. As Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at Stanford University, her laboratory led the breakthrough research to engineer baker's yeast to produce some of the most complex and valuable medicines known. Under her leadership, Antheia's synthetic biology platform enables new possibilities for drug discovery and efficient, sustainable, transparent, and on-demand drug manufacturing at scale. Dr Smolke was recognized as one of the Transformative Leaders in Sustainability by Forbes in 2023.
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Programmable macromolecule delivery with engineered cell-to-cell transfer
When: 4:30pm on Tuesday, April 15, 2024 (Refreshments served at 4pm)
Where: Shriram 104
Topic: Engineering high-precision, dynamic genetic control systems for cellular reprogramming
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Leveraging human T cell genomics to enhance T cell therapies
Summary: T cell therapies, particularly in solid tumors, have been hampered by numerous barriers that limit T cell function and preclude effective therapeutic responses. We turned to spontaneously occurring genetic events in human T cells, which have evolved to overcome similar obstacles as those faced by anti-cancer T cells. In this talk, I will highlight how these genetic events can dramatically augment therapeutic T cells, and the journey translating this work from academia into the formation of a new biotech company.
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Development of Photoswitchable DARPins to control the activity of target proteins
SB.Talk with Renate Weizbauer (Carnegie Institution for Science)
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Development of optical sensors to visualize complex carbohydrates in living cells
SB.Talk with Philip Ross (MycoWorks)
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Have some fung: challenges and promises of synbio fungal utilities
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, Feb 13, 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Modulation of protein folding and degradation networks with intracellular nanobodies
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, Jan 30, 2024
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Microbial Biomanufacturing for Space and Earth Applications - from Single-Carbon Feedstocks to High-Performance Materials
Hosted by Sarafan ChEM-H, Bio-X, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
When: 9:00 am - 10:00 am on Friday, January 26, 2024
Where: ChEM-H Neuro E241
Topic: Join us to learn more about the intersection of synthetic biology and neuroscience. Michael Lin, Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Bioengineering; Xiaojing Gao, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering
Hosted by Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
When: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm on Thursday, January 18, 2024
Where: E241, Gunn Rotunda, Stanford Neurosciences Building
Speaker: Mikhail Shapiro is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Medical Engineering, an HHMI Investigator, and Director of the Center for Molecular and Cellular Medicine at Caltech. The Shapiro laboratory develops biomolecular technologies allowing cells to be imaged and controlled inside the body using sound waves and magnetic fields.
Building Biology Symposium
Hosted by Stanford Genetics and Developmental Biology
When: 8:30 am - 4:45 pm on Friday, January 19, 2024
Where: Berg Hall, Li Ka Shing Building
The Stanford Genetics and Developmental Biology Departments are pleased to invite trainees, faculty, and staff across the Stanford Biosciences and the greater Bay Area to register for their trainee-led "Building Biology" symposium. The symposium focuses on how biological systems can be interpreted, manipulated, and created across a variety of biological scales, ranging from single cells to whole organisms. We are pleased to feature a set of interdisciplinary speakers, including both Stanford faculty (Sergiu Pasca, Jennifer Brophy) and invited speakers from CalTech (Magda Zernicka-Goetz), UC Berkeley/ARC (Patrick Hsu), MIT (Kate Galloway), and University of Chicago (Neil Shubin).
SB.Talk with Natalie G. Farny (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) & Aditya Kunjapur (University of Delaware)
When: 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm on Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023
Where: Shriram 104
Topic: Talks by Natalie G. Farny, Assistant Professor of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Aditya Kunjapur, Assistant Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware.
Schedule
12:00 – 12:40: Natalie Farny: SynBio in the Soil: Tools, Models, and Applications
12:50 – 1:30: Aditya Kunjapur: Thinking outside of the bioreactor: How the biosynthesis of rare building blocks can create new safeguards
Hosted by Sarafan ChEM-H, Bio-X, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
When: 9:00 am on Friday, Dec 1, 2023
Where: John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Rotunda, Neurosciences Building
Topic: Join us to learn more about the intersection of synthetic biology and neuroscience. Talks by Drew Endy, Associate Professor of Bioengineering and Sergiu Pasca, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences will be followed by a community discussion.
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, Nov 28, 2023
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Machine Learning Foundation Models for Synthetic Biology
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, Nov 14, 2023
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: “Let's Talk Tolerance: Mapping dietary protein-immune cell interactions in the gut.”
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, Oct 31, 2023
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Biomolecular Control Circuit with Inherent Bi-stability is Applicable for Automatic Detection of Gut Infection
Hosted by Chemical Engineering Colloquium
When: 4:30 pm on Monday, Oct 30, 2023
Where: Y2E2 111
Guest Speaker: Dr. Huimin Zhao, Steven L. Miller Chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
Topic: Synthetic biology aims to design novel or improved biological systems using engineering principles, which has broad applications in medical, chemical, food, and agricultural industries. Thanks to the rapid advances in DNA sequencing and synthesis, genome editing, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), and laboratory automation in the past two decades, synthetic biology has entered a new phase of exponential growth. In this talk, I will highlight our recent work on the development of a self-driving biofoundry, AI/ML tools, and next-generation genome editing tools for synthetic biology applications. Examples include but are not limited to: (1) BioAutomata: a self-driving biofoundry for pathway engineering and protein engineering, (2) ECNet: an AI tool for enzyme engineering, (3) CLEAN: an AI tool for enzyme function prediction, and (4) zCRISPR-Cas12a: an engineered genome editing system with high efficiency and specificity.
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, Oct 17, 2023
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: High-throughput re-wiring of immune cell signaling to control function
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, September 19, 2023
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Can synthetic biology help save our planet? a discussion on synthetic biology for sustainability
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, September 5, 2023
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Routinizing synthetic biology by (routinely) building synthetic cells
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, August 22, 2023
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Programmable synthetic GPCRs for customized antigen recognition and cellular response
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, August 8, 2023
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Harnessing Protein-Protein Interactions for Programmable Control of Protein Secretion in Mammalian Cells
SB.Talk with Stanford iGEM team
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Meet the Stanford iGEM team: a summer project on biocontainment
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, July 11, 2023
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Let’s get a NSF Biofoundry at Stanford
Abstract: The NSF has a call for proposals to fund up to four biofoundries across the US. Up to $24 million over six years. Jenn Brophy, Drew Endy, & Mike Jewett are leading the Stanford team competing for one such award. Come learn about the proposal while it is still being drafted! Offer your thoughts, wishes, and advice! Full details about are the call online here.
When: Thursday, June 22 to Friday, June 23, 2023
Where: Holiday Inn San Jose-Silicon Valley, San Jose, CA, USA
Topic: Come listen to leading experts in the field of mammalian synthetic biology and about the latest developments and applications in genome architecture, immunoengineering, regenerative medicine, organoids, and other topics that are shaping the future of the field. More info: http://mammalian-synbio.org/2023.
When: 12:00 pm on Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Computer-aided design of engineered cells: vision and some highlighted challenges
When: 3:30 pm on Friday, June 9, 2023
Where: Y2E2 Room 299
Guest Speaker: Tal Danino Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University
Abstract: Synthetic biology is driving a new era of medicine through the genetic programming of living cells. One particular focus has been the engineering of bacteria as therapeutic delivery systems for cancer, where microbes colonize and release payloads within tumors. Here, genetic circuits are designed to enhance spatial and temporal control of microbial behavior for improved safety and efficacy. In this talk, Danino will highlight their recent efforts to develop bacterial biosensors, encapsulation strategies, and effective delivery systems for payloads ranging from cytotoxic to immunomodulatory agents. Danino will also discuss the progression from bacteria as single agents toward their engineered interactions with other programmable medicines using synthetic biology.
When: 4:00 pm on Thursday, June 8, 2023
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Integration over insulation: rethinking pathway-level engineering in human cells using mitochondrial genomes + group discussion on show to shape synthetic biology at Stanford University.
Hosted by Chemical Engineering Colloquium
When: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm on Monday, June 5, 2023
Where: Virtual (Zoom)
Guest Speaker: James J. Collins is the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering & Science and Professor of Biological Engineering at MIT, as well as a Member of the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology Faculty.
When: 4:00 pm on Thursday, May 25, 2023
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Topic: Genetic circuits for plant synthetic biology
Fireside Chat with Austin Che, Ginkgo Bioworks
Hosted by Stanford Biotechnology Group
When: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm on Monday, May 22, 2023
Where: RVSP for location
Guest Speaker: Austin Che, co-founder, Ginkgo Bioworks
Interested in learning about what it takes to build the world's largest SynBio company and where the field is headed? Join Austin Che for a fireside chat.
Hosted by Stanford Student Space Initiative
When: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm on Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Where: Lane History Corner 200-303
Guest Speaker: Lynn Rothschild, NASA Ames Research Center
When: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm on Friday, May 12, 2023
Where: Shriram Room 112
When: 4:00 pm on Thursday, May 11, 2023
Where: Shriram Tea Room
Guest Speaker: Jim Haseloff, Professor of Synthetic Biology, University of Cambridge
Topic: Open tools for engineering plants
Synthetic Biology for Sustainability Symposium
When: 10:00 am - 2:00 pm on Monday, May 1, 2023
Where: Vidalakis Dining Hall, Schwab Residential Center
The Deans of the School of Medicine, the School of Engineering, and the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability are hosting the Synthetic Biology for Sustainability Symposium on May 1, from 10am – 2pm at the Vidalakis Dining Hall, Schwab Residential Center.
When: 4:00 pm on Thursday, April 27, 2023
Where: Shriram 262
Topic: Optogenetics, directed (de)evolution, and brain mapping
When: 3:00 - 4:00 pm on Thursday, April 20, 2023
Where: Building 530, Rm 127, 440 Escondido Mall
Topic: Context-aware mammalian synthetic biology for controller design
When: 3:00 pm on Thursday, April 13, 2023
Where: Shriram Tearoom
Topic: A DNA programming environment
Stanford SB Community Event
When: 2:00 - 3:30 pm on Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Where: Shriram Tearoom
You're invited to our inaugural event to establish a Stanford-based community of researchers interested in synthesis and synthetic biology. Faculty, staff, postdocs and students are all invited. Please RVSP here.
