Meeting Agenda
“Biomedical Applications of Synthetic Biology”
Petit Biotechnology Building (IBB) | Suddath Seminar Room, 1128
Georgia Institute of Technology | 315 Ferst Drive NW, Atlanta, GA
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
2026 Suddath Awardee Presentation | ||
| 11:00 - 11:45 a.m. | "Noninvasive Monitoring of Antitumor Activity of T Cells: Synergy of Cell Engineering, Nanosensors, and Imaging" | 2026 Suddath Awardee, Myeongsoo Kim, Georgia Tech Ph.D. Candidate - Stanislav Emelianov, Advisor |
Official Opening of the 2026 Suddath Symposium | ||
| 1:00 p.m. | Opening Remarks | Nick Hud, IBB Associate Director, Tara Deans and Mark Styczynski - Symposium Co-Chairs |
| Session I - Reprogramming Cells for Therapies and More (Session Chair - Alexis Williams) | ||
| 1:05 p.m. | "Synthetic Biology: Making Biology Programmable" | James Collins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 1:55 p.m. | "A Complete Suite for Compact Programming of Protein Secretion” | Alex Vlahos, Georgia Tech and Emory University |
| 2:30 p.m | "Toolbox for De Novo Organelle Engineering in Human Cells" | Felipe Quiroz, Georgia Tech and Emory University |
| 3:05 p.m. | Break | |
| Session II - Mammalian Synthetic Biology (Session Chair - Lydia Taylor) | ||
| 3:25 p.m | "Engineering Vaccines, Cell and Gene Therapies Using Synthetic Biology" | Wilson Wong, Boston University |
| 4:15 p.m. | "Building Synthetic Immunity: Designing T cells to Measure, Detect, and Treat Cancer" | Gabe Kwong, Georgia Tech and Emory University |
| 4:50 p.m. | "Programming Platelet Biogenesis for Therapeutic Delivery" | Tara Deans, Georgia Tech and Emory University |
| 5:25 p.m | Presentation of 2026 Suddath Award | Brant Suddath and Vincent Suddath |
| 5:35 p.m | Adjourn | |
Thursday, March 19, 2026
| 8:30 a.m. | Breakfast, Nerem Atrium | |
| Session III - Sensing and Applications (Session Chair - Alexandra Patterson) | ||
| 9:15 a.m. | "Developing and Deploying Cell-Free Biosensors for Global Health" | Julius Lucks, Northwestern |
| 10:05 a.m. | “Minimal-equipment Diagnostics Using Cell-free Systems” | Mark Styczynski, Georgia Tech |
| 10:40 a.m. | Intro to Ethical, Legal, and Societal Implications | Mark Styczynski, Georgia Tech |
| 10:45 a.m. | "The Geopolitics of SynBio: From Technological Trends to Strategic Significances" | Margaret Kosal, Georgia Tech |
| 11:30 a.m. | Poster Session and Lunch, Nerem Atrium | |
| Session IV - Advanced Control of Biological Systems (Session Chair - Caitlyn Davis) | ||
| 1:30 p.m | "Engineering Bacteria to Diagnose and Treat Disease" | Jeffrey Tabor, Rice University |
| 1:50 p.m. | "Integrating Synthetic Biology and Metabolic Engineering for Cancer Immunotherapy" | John Blazeck, Georgia Tech |
| 2:25 p.m. | "Human GPCR-Based Sensors in Yeast to Accelerate Drug Discovery" | Pamela Peralta-Yahya, Georgia Tech |
| 3:00 p.m. | "Epigenetic Control Systems Engineering: Synthetic Controllers and Predictive Modeling of Chromatin Responsiveness" | Karmella Haynes, Georgia Tech and Emory University |
| 3:35 p.m. | Closing Remarks and Adjourn | |
