People

Alexei Aravin
Professor of Biology
Non-coding RNAs: natural functions and programming of RNA pathways for new functions in vivo, non-coding RNAs as determinants of epigenetic states, the link between RNA- and chromatin-based epigenetic mechanisms

Frances Arnold
Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Biochemistry, and Bioengineering; Director, Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen Bioengineering Center
Directed evolution, synthetic biology, protein engineering, biocatalysis, biofuels

Jacqueline K. Barton
John G. Kirkwood and Arthur A. Noyes Professor of Chemistry
Biochemistry and molecular biophysics, chemistry

Pamela Bjorkman
David Baltimore Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering, Merkin Institute Professor
HIV, protein design, antibody therapeutics, structural immunology

Marianne Bronner
Edward B. Lewis Professor of Biology
Developmental Biology and Genetics; Neuroscience; Systems Biology; Evolutionary and Organismal Biology

Joel Burdick  
Richard L. and Dorothy M. Hayman Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering
Robotics, kinematics, mechanical systems and control

Long Cai
Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering
Single cell systems biology, super-resolution barcoded FISH, single molecule microscopy

Bil Clemons
Professor of Biochemistry
Tail-anchored protein targeting, membrane protein expression, bacterial glycobiology

Scott Cushing
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Development of new, laser-based instrumentation for chemistry, physics, biology, and materials problems

Chiara Daraio
Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics
Creation of new materials and devices for engineering applications ranging from optomechanics to shock absorption

Mark E. Davis  
Warren and Katharine Schlinger Professor of Chemical Engineering
Designs for the synthesis of inorganic and hybrid, organic-inorganic materials for catalysis and biocompatible materials for the delivery of macromolecular therapeutics

Michael Dickinson  
Esther M. and Abe M. Zarem Professor of Bioengineering and Aeronautics
Biomechanics of animal locomotion, neurobiology of behavior, neurogenetics of Drosophila

John Doyle
Jean-Lou Chameau Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems, Electrical Engineering, and Bioengineering
Theoretical foundations and software infrastructure for complex technological and biological networks

Michael Elowitz
Professor of Biology, Bioengineering and Applied Physics; Bren Scholar; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Biophysics, biocomputing, gene regulation networks and variation in living cells

Azita Emami
Andrew and Peggy Cherng Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering; Director, Center for Sensing to Intelligence
High-performance integrated circuits and systems

Andrei Faraon
William L. Valentine Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering
Solid state quantum optics and nano-photonics

Katalin (Kata) Fejes-Tóth
Research Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering
Non-coding RNAs in regulation of gene expression

Wei Gao
Assistant Professor of Medical Engineering; Ronald and JoAnne Willens Scholar; Investigator, Heritage Medical Research Institute
Biosensors, flexible electronics, micro/nano device fabrication, nanomedicine, analytical chemistry

Morteza Gharib
Hans W. Liepmann Professor of Aeronautics and Bioinspired Engineering; Director of Graduate Aerospace Laboratories; Booth-Kresa Leadership Chair/Director, Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies
Quantitative visualization, bioinspired flow system, flow structure interaction, bubbly flows, wind and hydro energy harvesting

Lea Goentoro
Professor of Biology
Design principles of biological systems, signal transduction in animal cells, network architecture of embryonic development, cellular and developmental basis of evolution

Viviana Gradinaru  
Lois and Victor Troendle Professor of Neuroscience and Biological Engineering; Director, Center for Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Reverse engineering brain circuits, optogenetics, protein engineering, technology development for neuroscience

Julia R. Greer
Ruben F. and Donna Mettler Professor of Materials Science, Mechanics, and Medical Engineering; Director of the Kavli Nanoscience Institute
Nano-scale phenomena, mechanical properties, in-situ deformation, nano-fabrication

Mitchell Guttman
Professor of Biology
Biochemistry, structural and molecular cell biology, developmental biology and genetics, systems biology

Ali Hajimiri
Bren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering; Co-Director, Space-Based Solar Power Project
Integrated Circuit, biosensing, mm-wave integrated, THz silicon integarted circuits, integrated radar, CMOS power amplifiers, lab-on-a-chip, high-speed communication circuits

Bruce Hay
Professor of Biology
Developmental biology and genetics, systems biology

Andre Hoelz
Mary and Charles Ferkel Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Molecular medicine, structural cell biology of nucleocytoplasmic transport, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, therapeutic antibodies, single-chain macro-molecular complexes

Rustem Ismagilov
Ethel Wilson Bowles and Robert Bowles Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; Merkin Institute Professor; Director of the Jacobs Institute for Molecular Engineering for Medicine
Microfluidics, complex networks of reactions, cells and organisms, microbial communities, spatial structure, human health in resource-limited settings

Julia Kornfield
Elizabeth W. Gilloon Professor of Chemical Engineering
Polymeric and supramolecular liquids: physics and rheology

Henry A. Lester
Professor of Biology
Neuroscience—study of nervous system at the molecular, cellular, and system levels

Carlos Lois
Research Professor in Biology
Synthetic biology, genetic engineering of viruses, transgenic animals, genetic neurobiology, neuronal biophysics

Stephen L. (Steve) Mayo
Bren Professor of Biology and Chemistry; Merkin Institute Professor
The focus of the lab is the coupling of theoretical, computational, and experimental techniques for the study of structural biology.

Sarkis Mazmanian
Luis B. and Nelly Soux Professor of Microbiology
Through genomics, microbiology, immunology, neurobiology and animal models, we wish to define the molecular processes employed by symbiotic bacteria that mediate protection from disease.

Markus Meister  
Anne P. and Benjamin F. Biaggini Professor of Biological Sciences
Brain science, function of neural circuits, sensory processing, neural coding and computation, instruments for recording neural signals

Elliot M. Meyerowitz
George W. Beadle Professor of Biology; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Computational modeling of plant development, computational analysis of microscope images

Richard Murray
Thomas E. and Doris Everhart Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems and Bioengineering; William K. Bowes Jr. Leadership Chair, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering
Feedback and control in biological circuits, synthetic biology, molecular programming

Yuki Oka
Professor of Biology; Investigator, Heritage Medical Research Institute
Neural and molecular basis of motivated behaviors toward homeostatic regulation.

Lior Pachter
Bren Professor of Computational Biology and Computing and Mathematical Sciences
Computational and experimental methods for genomics

Rob B. Phillips
Fred and Nancy Morris Professor of Biophysics, Biology, and Physics
Biophysics of macromolecules and their assemblies

Niles Pierce
Professor of Applied & Computational Mathematics and Bioengineering
Molecular programming, nucleic acid nanotechnology, engineering small conditional RNAs, algorithms for analysis and design of nucleic acid systems, molecular instruments for readout and regulation of cell state

David Prober
Professor of Biology
Developmental biology and genetics, neuroscience, systems biology

Lulu Qian
Professor of Bioengineering
Designing and constructing artificial molecular systems that exhibit programmable behaviors such as recognizing molecular events from their environment, processing information, making decisions, taking actions, learning, and evolving

Sarah Reisman
Professor of Chemistry; Investigator, Heritage Medical Research Institute; Executive Officer for Chemistry
Synthetic organic chemistry; Natural product total synthesis; Asymmetric catalysis

Paul W.K. Rothemund
Research Professor of Bioengineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences, and Computation and Neural Systems
Molecular programming and algorithms, DNA computation, nucleic acid structure and thermodynamics, principles of self-assembly, nanotechnology, bionanolithography, using DNA nanostructures as instrumentation for biochemistry and biophysics

Michael L. Roukes  
Frank J. Roshek Professor of Physics, Applied Physics, and Bioengineering
Nanobiotechnology, nanotechnology, nanoscale physics, nanoscale and molecular mechanics

Axel Scherer
Bernard Neches Professor of Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics and Physics; Merkin Institute Professor
Design, fabrication, and characterization of nanoscale photonic, magnetic, and fluidic devices and systems

Mikhail Shapiro
Professor of Chemical Engineering; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Director, Center for Molecular and Cellular Medicine
Molecular and cellular engineering, non-invasive imaging and control of biological function, neuroscience, nanotechnology, synthetic biology

Thanos Siapas
Professor of Computation and Neural Systems
Brain mechanisms of learning and memory, large-scale electrophysiology, computational neuroscience

Paul Sternberg
Bren Professor of Biology
Molecular genetics of development, nematodes, cancer genes

Yu-Chong Tai
Anna L. Rosen Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering; Director, Caltech MEMS Lab
MEMS, Bio-MEMS, Micromachining, lab-on-a-chip, microfluidics, drug delivery, micro implants, circulating tumor cell, parylene, Bio-med

Matt Thomson
Assistant Professor of Computational Biology; Investigator, Heritage Medical Research Institute
Biological Engineering, Computational Mathematics, Developmental Biology and Genetics, Synthetic Biology, Systems Biology

David Tirrell
Ross McCollum-William H. Corcoran Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; Provost; Carl and Shirley Larson Provostial Chair
Polymer chemistry, materials chemistry, biomaterials

David Van Valen
Assistant Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering; Investigator, Heritage Medical Research Institute
Study of living systems

Rebecca Voorhees
Assistant Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering; Investigator, Heritage Medical Research Institute
The lab uses a combination of structural and functional techniques, including cryo-electron microscopy and protein biochemistry, to understand i) the molecular mechanism of protein biogenesis and ii) how proteins and mRNAs that fail at any step during this maturation process are recognized and degraded.

Lihong Wang
Bren Professor of Medical Engineering and Electrical Engineering; Andrew and Peggy Cherng Medical Engineering Leadership Chair
Development of novel biomedical imaging technologies

Zhen-Gang Wang
Dick and Barbara Dickinson Professor of Chemical Engineering
Statistical mechanics of structures, phase transitions and dynamics in complex fluids, including polymers, liquid-crystals, and gels; statistical mechanics of surfaces and interfaces; nucleation; biophysics of DNA; evolutionary protein design, cell adhesion

Lu Wei
Assistant Professor of Chemistry; Investigator, Heritage Medical Research Institute
Optical spectroscopy and microscopy, Biophysics, Bio-imaging, Chemical probe development.

Erik Winfree
Professor of Computer Science, Computation and Neural Systems, and Bioengineering
Biomolecular computation, DNA-based computation, algorithmic self-assembly, in vitro biochemical circuits, noise- and fault-tolerance, DNA and RNA folding, evolution

Changhuei Yang
Thomas G. Myers Professor of Electrical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Medical Engineering; Investigator, Heritage Medical Research Institute
Biophotonics, bioimaging