Event
BIOE Seminar: Synthetic Reconstitution of Complex Cellular Function
Friday, November 13, 2026
9:00 a.m.
A. James Clark Hall, Room #2121
Sara Molinari
saramol@umd.edu
Ahmad Khalil
Professor
Harvard University
Reconstitution of Complex Cellular Function
Abstract:
There is a rich tradition of using bottom-up reconstitution to study, rebuild, and understand biological systems. Synthetic biology is now expanding the ambition and reach of this approach, enabling increasingly complex biochemical and regulatory systems to be reconstructed and controlled directly inside living cells and organisms. Here, I will describe recent work in our lab using synthetic reconstitution toward two complementary goals: (1) to dissect and rebuild the molecular circuits underlying eukaryotic gene regulation, revealing how cells make decisions, maintain memory, and establish distinct identities; and (2) to harness the resulting principles to construct synthetic circuits that endow cells with new therapeutic and biotechnological capabilities, including programmable CAR-T cells for cancer and engineered yeast platforms for the discovery and evolution of therapeutic antibodies.
Bio:
Dr. Ahmad (Mo) Khalil is the Hok Lam and Kathleen Kam Wong Professor of Bioengineering and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. He is also an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Associate Faculty at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
An internationally recognized leader in synthetic and systems biology, Dr. Khalil develops innovative technologies to uncover the fundamental principles governing gene regulation and cellular behavior, and harnesses these insights to engineer cells with new therapeutic and biotechnological capabilities. A hallmark of his research is the development of broadly enabling technologies that advance biological discovery and engineering, including eVOLVER, a widely adopted platform for automated continuous culture and evolution.
Dr. Khalil has received numerous prestigious honors, including the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, Schmidt Science Polymath Award, Kuwait Prize, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), DoD Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship, NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, NSF CAREER Award, and DARPA Young Faculty Award. He is also deeply committed to education, mentorship, and scientific service, and has received multiple awards for excellence in teaching.
Beyond academia, Dr. Khalil has translated his research into biotechnology ventures as co-founder of Eira Bio and Fynch Biosciences, and serves on the scientific advisory boards of several biotechnology companies. He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. from MIT and his B.S., with Phi Beta Kappa honors, from Stanford University.
