Instructors

Christian Cuba Samaniego Carnegie Mellon University CSHL Topic: Computational Modeling of Gene Circuits

Christian Cuba Samaniego is currently a research fellow in the Department of Immunology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute & Harvard Medical School, and an incoming Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. His research combines mathematical models and experiments to design biomolecular programs for pattern recognition and feedback control in living cells. He earned his Ph.D. studying biomolecular controllers at the University of California Riverside, and was a postdoc in synthetic biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California Los Angeles. Prior to that, he received his B.S. degree in Mecatronica Eng from the National University of Engineering (Lima-Peru). Dr. Samaniego was a CSHL Synthetic Biology course teaching assistant from 2017 to 2021, and has been an instructor since 2022.

Karmella Haynes Emory University & Georgia Tech Department of Biomedical Engineering Lab website CSHL Topic: Gene Regulation Technologies – Epigenetic Engineering

Karmella Haynes is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Emory University & Georgia Tech. Her research aims to apply the intrinsic properties of chromatin, the DNA-protein structure that packages eukaryotic genes, to engineer proteins and nucleic acids that control cell development. She earned her Ph.D. studying epigenetics at Washington University, St. Louis and was a postdoc in synthetic biology at Davidson College and Harvard Medical School. She launched the annual NSF-funded AfroBiotech conference series (2019), is a member of the national Engineering Biology Research Consortium (EBRC, 2014 – present), past advisor and current Judge Emeritus for the annual International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition (2007 – present), and a member of the NIH National Scientific Advisory Board for Biosecurity (2021 – present). She was elected into the 2023 American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows. Prof. Haynes is a founding CSHL Synthetic Biology course instructor (2013).

Vincent Noireaux University of Minnesota School of Physics and Astronomy Lab website CSHL Topic: Using Cell-Free Transcription-Translation (TXTL)

Vincent Noireaux is an Associate Professor of Synthetic Biology and Biological Physics at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Physics. His lab has developed a novel cell-free transcription-translation (TX-TL) system to construct and characterize biochemical systems in vitro such as gene circuits, protein self-assemblies and bottom-up minimal cells. He earned his Ph.D. at the Curie Institute in Paris, and he was a postdoc at the Rockefeller University in New York. Prof. Noireaux was a CSHL Synthetic Biology course instructor in 2017.

Eric Young Worcester Polytechnic Institute Department of Chemical Engineering Lab website CSHL Topic: DNA Assembly – Traditional, Gibson, and MoClo

Eric Young is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. His lab has developed genetic parts collections and whole genome sequencing (WGS) workflows to aid genetic engineering. These parts collections and tools can be utilized when constructing new cell factories and genetic circuits in nonconventional hosts. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin, and he was at postdoc at MIT. Prof. Young has been an instructor since 2023.