Drew Endy is a member of the bioengineering faculty at Stanford University and BioBricks Foundation president (biobricks.org). His research teams pioneered amplifying genetic logic, rewritable DNA data storage, reliably-reuseable standard biological parts, and genome refactoring. Drew helped launch the new undergraduate majors in bioengineering at both MIT and Stanford; he also co-founded the iGEM competition, a global genetic engineering “olympics” now engaging over 6,000 students annually (igem.org). Drew will join SynBioBeta founder John Cumbers for a conversation about the state of the synthetic biology industry. In light of COVID-19, we’ll also ask what the coronavirus pandemic means to innovation, our community, and our relationship with society. They’ll discuss:

• How synthetic biology has surpassed expectations, and the work that remains
• What his experience tells him about his outlook on the coronavirus response
• How coronavirus is shaping the public relationship with science
• The most important trends of the next five years

Monday, April 6, 2020, 8 am Pacific