Career Conversations

BioBuilder Founder, Dr. Natalie Kuldell, in conversation with practicing bioengineers -- students, faculty, and industry leaders.

What I am doing is playing my part to make sure that when the young graduates leave MIT, they're doing that ready, as ready as they can be, to actually make the world a better place.”
Kristala PratherChemical Engineering Professor, MIT
Through those experiences and having small setbacks, but then sometimes big setbacks, and then figuring out how to come back from those, I think what emerges is a skillset that might include resiliency, flexibility, being able to pivot really quickly.”
Justice T WalkerAssistant Prof of STEM Education, UTEP
"We all work together every single day. And so for me, it's having teammates that I trust and we're all a hundred percent open and honest and transparent with one another, because we all succeed or we all fail."
Jacqueline FidanzaVP Operations, Twist Bioscience
You can probably do anything anyone asks of you as long as you're engaged in it."
Jorge Sanchez-SalazarSenior Scientist, Codiak Bio
You get all this expertise from your PhD, then [[as a post-doc]] you kind of get booted off the ledge into this new field, and then you get your feet wet and start to figure out what's interesting, which has been a really fun experience."
Carolyn MillsPost-doc, Northwestern University
I think being a scientist, to me, is one of the best decisions I could have made. It's not just about doing experiments, but about how you think about things and how you approach problems. I think that helped with the company. "
Zeke Alvarez SaavedraFounder, minPCR bio
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Laura Aguilar_headshot

Career Conversation with Dr. Laura Aguilar

Laura is a physician-scientist and biotech entrepreneur

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Emma McGuirk_headshot

Career Conversation with Emma McGuirk

Emma is a PhD candidate at Brandeis University

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Deeptha Gokul_headshot

Career Conversation with Deeptha Gokul

Deeptha is a senior research associate at Biogen

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Lisa Stanek_headshot

Career Conversation with Dr. Lisa Stanek

Lisa is Vice President of Translational Sciences at Affinia Therapeutics

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Samantha Atkins

Career Conversation with Dr. Samantha Atkins

Samantha is a Senior Scientist at Moderna

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Prasanna Neti_headshot

Career Conversation with Prasanna Neti

Prasanna is a principal automation engineer with Stellix Global Services

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Samer Jaber_headshot

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Samer Jaber

Samer is a lab animal veterinarian at Abbvie

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Maxine Jonas_headshot

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Maxine Jonas

Maxine is a senior lab instructor at MIT

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Mary Dunlop Headshot

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Mary Dunlop

Mary leads a synthetic biology research lab at Boston University

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Bryan Hirsch_headshot

Meet BioBuilder Bryan Hirsch

Bryan Hirsch is a first year PhD student at Tufts University

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Joshua Atkinson_headshot

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Josh Atkinson

Josh is an NSF post-doc at USC, currently working in Denmark

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Hanna Tseng_headshot

Meet BioBuilder Hanna Tseng

Hanna works on the digital tech team at Ginkgo Bioworks

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Mark Styczynski_headshot

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Mark Styczynski

Mark is a professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech

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Xu Simon_headshot

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Xu Simon

Xu is Chief Technology Officer for Enozo Technologies

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Andrea Cobb Headshot

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Andrea Cobb

Andrea is director of student research at George Mason University

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Katelyn Sweeney

Meet BioBuilder Katelyn Sweeney

Katelyn is an aerospace engineer who is currently working towards her MBA

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Max Kazman Headshot

Meet BioBuilder Max Kazman

Max is a senior at Georgia Tech, majoring in chemical and biomolecular engineering and minoring in computer science

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Ben Steil Headshot

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Ben Steil

Ben is a research and development scientist at Daicel Arbor Biosciences

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Pamela Schehu_thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Pamela Schehu

Pamela is a biochemistry major and psychology minor at Northeastern University

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Kevin Solomon Headshot

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Kevin Solomon

Kevin is an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Delaware

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Melissa Aguirre Pinillos

Meet BioBuilder Melissa Aguirre Pinillos

Melissa is a student at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, majoring in biomedical engineering and minoring in chemistry

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Adrienne McKee_headshot

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Adrienne McKee

Adrienne is Director of Platform Partnerships at Checkerspot

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Abbie Underhill

Meet BioBuilder Abbie Underhill

Abbie is a product manager at Scientific Bioprocessing Inc.

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Doug Densmore_thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Doug Densmore

Doug is a Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Boston University

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Chris Kuffner_thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Chris Kuffner

Chris is a PhD candidate at Boston University

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marsha rolle_thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Marsha Rolle

Marsha is a professor of biomedical engineering at WPI

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jenn brophy_thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Jenn Brophy

Jenn is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University

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Kerry Black

Meet BioBuilder Kerry Black

Kerry is Head of Early Solutions (U.S. Operations) for UCB

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Patrick Holec_thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Patrick Holec

Patrick is a graduate student in the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT

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Ria Kothari_thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Ria Kothari

Ria is a high school BioBuilder at Dobyns-Bennett in Kingsport, TN

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Michelle Dziejman

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Michelle Dziejman

Michelle is a professor at University of Rochester Medical Center

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Jacqueline Fidanza_jpg

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Jacqueline Fidanza

Jacqueline is VP of Operations for Twist Biosciences

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Stephen Gunstream_new thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Stephen Gunstream

Stephen is the CEO and President at Teknova

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Thumbnail Julius Lucks

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Julius Lucks

Julius is a Synthetic Biology Professor at Northwestern University

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Sarah Elkondakly Thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Sarah Elkondakly

Sarah is a former BioBuilder Apprentice who went on to intern at LabCentral. She is now a first-gen undergrad at Brandeis University

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Chloe Baron Thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Chloé Baron

Chloé is a post-doc at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard University who is using zebrafish to study leukemia

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Christine Rodriguez_thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Christine Rodriguez

Christine is a Professor of the Practice in the Biology Dept. at Fairfield Univ.

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Career Conversation wtih Zeke Alvarez Saavedra

Meet BioBuilider Dr. Zeke Alvarez Saavedra

Zeke is a scientist, educator, and founder of miniPCR bio

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Kris Prather_thumbnail photo

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Kris Prather

Kris is a synthetic biologist in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT

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Justice Walker_thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Justice Walker

Justice is a biotechnologist and assistant professor who studies teaching and learning at UTEP

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Sarah Seaton_Thumbnail photo

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Sarah Seaton

Sarah is a senior scientist at Indigo Ag where she leads a microbe hunting team

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Stephen Payne_thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Stephen Payne

Stephen is CEO and President of Maku Technologies, a synbio startup in North Carolina

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Will Beeson Thumbnaill

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Will Beeson

Will is an agritech research scientist investigating new ways to protect crops with biotechnology

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Jason Boock_thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Jason Boock

Jason is a professor of Chemical Engineering at Miami University in Ohio

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Cheryl Immethun_thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Cheryl Immethun

Cheryl is a postdoc at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineering soil microbes to fix nitrogen the way microbes in root nodules do

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Career Conversation_Frederic Vigneault

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Frederic Vigneault

Frederic is a staff scientist at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering screening for compounds to treat rare diseases

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Meet BioBuilder Janice Kranz_thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Janice Kranz

Janice is CEO of Eikonizo, a drug discovery startup making novel brain-penetrating small molecules for neurodegenerative diseases

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Meet BioBuilder Dr. Carlos Vera

Carlos is a Professor at the Baja California University (UABC), at the Tijuana Technology Institute (ITT), and in the C.O.S.M.O.S program at UC-San Diego.

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Jorge Career Conversation thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Jorge Sanchez-Salazar

Jorge is manager of the Exosome Production Core at Codiak BioSciences after more than a decade spent as a senior associate scientist at Biogen and a lifetime of mentoring others.
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Career Conversation with Carolyn Mills_thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Carolyn Mills

Carolyn is currently a postdoctoral research scientist at Northwestern University in Prof. Danielle Tullman-Ercek's lab, working on protein superstructures inside bacterial cells

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Racquel Kim Sherwood Career Conversation thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Racquel Kim Sherwood

A Life Science Specialist at Avantor’s VWR, Dr. Racquel “Kim” Sherwood has always been interested in the sciences. She did a PhD in molecular biology at Brown University in understanding the life cycle of the fungi Candida lusitaniae.
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Brooke Huisman Career Conversation thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Brooke Huisman

Brooke Huisman is a fourth year PhD student studying at MIT in the Department of Biological Engineering. Her current research is in immuno-engineering, focusing on T cells function.
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Meet BioBuilder Shannon Johnson

Shannon Johnson is a fourth year PhD student at MIT’s Media Lab working in the field of synthetic biology and neurobiology, engineering new ways to use fluorescence as a biological indicator.
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Ernyey Marrogi Career Conversations Thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Eryney Marrogi

Eryney Marrogi is currently a research associate at Dyno Therapeutics. He is investigating new ways to use machine learning to design adeno-associated viruses for gene therapies.
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Dave Westenberg Career Conversation Thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Dave Westenberg

Professor of Biological Sciences at Missouri S&T, Dr. Dave Westenberg teaches microbiology and virology, focusing on broadening the focus of his students beyond one discipline.
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Susana Career Conversation Thumbnail

Meet BioBuilder Susana Donkor

Susana Donkor is a senior at Simmons University majoring in biochemistry on the pre-med track. In addition to being a mentor to some students, she is also involved with admissions at the school.
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Meet BioBuilder Patricia Silveyra

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Patricia Silveyra

Associate Professor at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who studies how gender influences the manifestations of lung inflammation and disease. She is also the Director of the Biobehavioral Lab at the UNC School of Nursing.
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Irene Reizman

Meet BioBuilder Dr. Irene Reizman

Assistant professor in chemical engineering at Rose-Hulman, Irene began her engineering career at Whirlpool, then returned to academia to get her PhD at MIT. Her research group is made up of undergrads using synthetic biology to sense dissolved oxygen levels in fermentation tanks.
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