Appendix D

Committee Biographies

Michael Imperiale, (Chair), Ph.D., is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Associate Chair of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan Medical School. Dr. Imperiale’s research focuses on the molecular biology of the small DNA tumor virus BK polyomavirus and specifically on how the virus traffics through the cell and interacts with the host intrinsic immune functions. Dr. Imperiale is a previous member of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity and has been deeply involved in the policy discussion regarding the potential risks and benefits of gain-of-function research. In 2010, he was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2011. He is the founding editor-in-chief of mSphere and also serves as an editor for mBio. In addition to his laboratory research, Dr. Imperiale is involved in science policy. He serves on the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and previously served on the Planetary Protection Subcommittee at NASA. Dr. Imperiale received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from Columbia University, all in biological sciences.

Patrick Boyle, Ph.D., is the head of design at Ginkgo Bioworks, a Boston-based synthetic biology company that makes and sells engineered organisms. Dr. Boyle’s team provides design tools and synthetic biology expertise to Ginkgo’s organism engineers and is an integral part of Ginkgo’s Design, Build, Test, and Ferment strategy for organism engineering. Dr. Boyle has extensive hands-on experience with the day-to-day applications of synthetic biology, as well as with working within the existing regulatory structure surrounding synthetic biology. Dr. Boyle received his Ph.D. in biological and biomedical sciences from Harvard Medical School.

Peter A. Carr, Ph.D., is a senior scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory, where he leads the synthetic biology research program. His research interests span genome engineering, rapid prototyping of both hardware and wetware, DNA synthesis and error correction, risk evaluation, and biodefense. Dr. Carr is the director of judging for the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition and is deeply knowledgeable about both the practice and potential implications of synthetic biology, with a special focus on the potential impacts on biodefense. Dr. Carr received his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Harvard and his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biophysics from Columbia University.

Douglas Densmore, Ph.D., is associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science and Engineering Faculty Fellow, both at Boston University. His research focuses on the development of tools for the specification, design, and assembly of synthetic biological systems, drawing upon his experience with embedded system-level design and electronic design automation. He is the director of the Cross-disciplinary Integration of Design Automation Research group at Boston University, where his team of staff and postdoctoral researchers, undergraduate interns, and graduate students develops computational and experimental tools for synthetic biology. He is the lead investigator for the National Science Foundation Expeditions “Living Computing Project” and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Association for Computing Machinery. Dr. Densmore received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Diane DiEuliis, Ph.D., is a senior research fellow at National Defense University (NDU). Her research areas focus on emerging biological technologies, biodefense, and preparedness for biological threats. Dr. DiEuliis also studies issues related to dual-use research, disaster recovery research, and behavioral, cognitive, and social science as it relates to important aspects of deterrence and preparedness. Prior to joining NDU, Dr. DiEuliis was the deputy director for policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. DiEuliis also previously served in the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House and was a program director at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. DiEuliis has broad knowledge about the policy implications of emerging technologies, as well as the intricacies that accompany instituting new policies to regulate such emerging technologies. Dr. DiEuliis received her Ph.D. in biological sciences from the University of Delaware.

Andrew Ellington, Ph.D., is the Fraser Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Ellington’s research focuses on the development and evolution of artificial life, including nucleic acid operating systems that can function both in vitro and in vivo. His laboratory aims to “[reduce] synthetic biology . . . to an engineering discipline rather than a buzzword.” Dr. Ellington has received the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, Cottrell Award, and Pew Scholar Award. He has advised numerous government agencies on biodefense and biotechnology issues and was recently named a National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellow. He was also recently named a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Ellington has also helped found the aptamer companies Archemix and b3 Biosciences, and has an intimate understanding of both the academic and commercial sides of synthetic biology, as well as the challenges to both. Dr. Ellington earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Harvard.

Gigi Kwik Gronvall, Ph.D., is a senior associate at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and visiting faculty at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. An immunologist by training, Dr. Gronvall’s work addresses how scientists can diminish the threat of biological weapons and how they can contribute to an effective response against a biological weapon or a natural epidemic. Dr. Gronvall is the author of the 2016 book Synthetic Biology: Safety, Security, and Promise (Health Security Press). She is a member of the Threat Reduction Advisory Committee, which provides the Secretary of Defense with independent advice and recommendations on reducing the risk to the United States, its military forces, and its allies and partners posed by nuclear, biological, chemical, and conventional threats. Dr. Gronvall has testified before Congress on topics relating to biosafety and biosecurity and is widely regarded as an expert on the role of scientists in health and national security matters. Dr. Gronvall earned her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University.

Charles Haas, Ph.D., is the L.D. Betz Professor of Environmental Engineering and head of the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at Drexel University. His broad research interests include the estimation of human health risks from environmental exposures to pathogens and their control using engineering interventions and drinking water treatment. Dr. Haas is broadly knowledgeable in the field of risk assessment, particularly in the context of complex and interdependent systems. Dr. Haas previously served as co-director of the Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment, which was jointly funded by the U.S. Department of

Homeland Security and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Haas has served on a number of National Academies committees, including serving as chair of the Committee to Review Risk Assessment Approaches for the Medical Countermeasures Test and Evaluation Facility at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Dr. Haas received his Ph.D. in environmental engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Joseph Kanabrocki, Ph.D., is the associate vice president for research safety and professor of microbiology in the Biological Sciences Division of the University of Chicago. Dr. Kanabrocki is tasked with instilling a culture that focuses on the health and well-being of all university personnel engaged in research activities. Dr. Kanabrocki is an expert in biosafety and biosecurity issues, especially practical ones arising from day-to-day laboratory work due to his appointment as biological safety officer and select agent responsible official for the University of Chicago. Dr. Kanabrocki is a member of the National Institutes of Health Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee and currently a member of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB). Dr. Kanabrocki served as co-chair of the NSABB Working Group that produced the 2016 report Recommendations for the Evaluation and Oversight of Proposed Gain-of-Function Research. Dr. Kanabrocki received his Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of South Dakota School of Medicine.

Kara Morgan, Ph.D., is a principal at Quant Policy Strategies, LLC. Her work in public health policy analysis includes developing and evaluating data-driven decision support tools to support effective risk management decision making. She has worked extensively on risk assessment and, in particular, on how results from risk assessments can be effectively integrated into decision-making processes. Prior to founding Quant Policy Strategies, Dr. Morgan was a research leader at Battelle Memorial Institute. Prior to that position, Dr. Morgan worked at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in several advisory and leadership positions for 10 years. Through her work supporting the National Nanotechnology Initiative during her time at FDA, in 2005 she published one of the first articles to establish a framework for informing risk analysis about nanoparticles. Her research in expert elicitation, decision analysis, and risk analysis has led to numerous publications developing and applying risk frameworks to decision making about microbial food safety and the pharmaceutical manufacturing quality. She is an adjunct professor at the John Glenn College for Public Affairs at Ohio State University and serves as an appointed member of the State Board of Education in Ohio. Dr. Morgan received her Ph.D. in engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University.

Kristala Jones Prather, Ph.D., is the Arthur D. Little Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her research interests are centered on the engineering of recombinant microorganisms for the production of small molecules, especially focusing on the design and assembly of biological pathways to target compounds and the incorporation of novel control strategies for regulation of metabolism. Prior to joining MIT’s faculty, Dr. Prather worked in Bioprocess Research and Development at Merck Research Laboratories. She has received numerous awards, including a position on the MIT Technology Review’s TR35, a list of innovators under the age of 35; the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award; and the Biochemical Engineering Journal Young Investigator Award. Dr. Prather has been recognized for excellence in teaching at MIT with several awards, including the School of Engineering’s Junior Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching, and through appointment as a MacVicar Faculty Fellow, the highest honor given for undergraduate teaching at MIT. Dr. Prather received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Thomas Slezak, M.S., is an associate program leader at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Mr. Slezak is a computer scientist and manages a team of biologists and software engineers to find innovative solutions for diagnosing and characterizing dangerous pathogens. Mr. Slezak’s team has developed PCR assays, pan-microbial microarrays (recently commercialized by Affymetrix), and DNA sequence analysis software to support a broad range of pathogen detection and forensic programs in biodefense and human and animal health. Mr. Slezak co-chaired a Blue Ribbon Panel on bioinformatics for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that led to new funding for the Advanced Molecular Detection program, and was a developer of the nationwide BioWatch system. Mr. Slezak has served on three National Academies’ panels on biodefense topics, as well as on the National

Academies’ Standing Committee on Biodefense Programs to Advise the Department of Defense. Mr. Slezak received his M.S. in computer science at the University of California, Davis.

Jill Taylor, Ph.D., is the director of the New York State Department of Health Wadsworth Center and a faculty member of the Wadsworth School of Laboratory Sciences. The Wadsworth Center is the only research-intensive public health laboratory in the nation, and Dr. Taylor has served as its director, deputy director, and interim director for the past 12 years. Dr. Taylor previously served as the director of the Wadsworth Center’s Clinical Virology Program, which focused on introducing molecular technologies to ensure responsiveness to the state’s changing public health needs, with particular emphasis on influenza virus. She also contributes to policy discussions at the national level as a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s Office of Infectious Diseases and as a member of the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine. Dr. Taylor is well versed in developing future research agendas and analysis of new policy proposals and their implications. Dr. Taylor received her Ph.D. from the University of Queensland, Australia.