Center for Synthetic Biology

June - CSB Social
2025-06-26 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
Join us at our upcoming social event and immerse yourself in a vibrant community of synthetic biologists. Connect and engage with fellow students, postdocs, staff, and faculty over refreshments.

MRSEC & CSB Seminar Series - Canan Atılgan
2025-06-25 12:00 - 13:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
This is a joint event with MRSEC. Faculty host – Sinan Keten.
“Leveraging Allostery for the Rational Design and Performance Ranking of Fluorescent Protein-Based Biosensors”
Canan Atılgan is a faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences at Sabanci University in Istanbul, Turkey.
Details for the seminar are as follows:
Date: Wednesday, June 25th, 2025
Time: 12:00-1:00pm
Location: Evanston Campus

CSB Seminar Series - Cameron Kim
2025-06-09 10:00 - 11:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
Cameron Kim is the Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies, Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Department of BME at Duke University
Details for the seminar are as follows:
Date: Monday, June 9th, 2025
Time: 10:00-11:00am
Location: Evanston Campus

BTP & CSB Seminar Series - Brad Merrill
2025-05-28 12:00 - 13:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
**This is a joint event hosted by the Biotechnology Training Program.**
Brad Merrill is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at UIC.
Details for the seminar are as follows:

Date: Wednesday, May 28th, 2025
Time: 12:00-1:00pm
Location: Evanston Campus

CSB Seminar Series - Michael Koeris
2025-05-20 11:00 - 12:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
Michael Koeris is the Director of Biological Technologies Office of DARPA
Details for the seminar are as follows:

Date: Tuesday, May 20th, 2025
Time: 11:00am-12:00pm
Location: Evanston Campus

May - Research In Progress Meeting
2025-05-12 12:00 - 13:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
The Research-In-Progress (RIP) Meetings aim to highlight ongoing, unpublished work by students and postdoctoral fellows in CSB. These monthly meetings strengthen our research and foster a more collaborative research environment by organizing the diverse sets of expertise within CSB and our greater research community to discuss new results, suggest future experiments, and brainstorm potential applications. These also provide a forum in which students and postdocs can practice scientific communication with colleagues in a more relaxed atmosphere.

CANCELLED - May - CSB Social
2025-05-06 16:00 - 17:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
**PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED AND WILL BE RESCHEDULED FOR A FUTURE DATE**
Join us at our upcoming social event and immerse yourself in a vibrant community of synthetic biologists. Connect and engage with fellow students, postdocs, staff, and faculty over refreshments.

CANCELLED - CSB Seminar Series - Jennifer Brophy
2025-05-06 09:00 - 10:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED
Jennifer Brophy is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University.

April - Research In Progress Meeting
2025-04-14 12:00 - 13:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States

CSB Seminar Series - Neil King
2025-04-08 13:15 - 14:15 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
Neil King is an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Details for the seminar are as follows:

Date: Tuesday, April 8th, 2025
Time: 1:15-2:15pm
Location: Evanston Campus, Room TBD

CSB Seminar Series - Hana El-Samad
2025-04-01 12:00 - 13:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
Hana El-Samad is the Senior Vice President and Director at the Institute of Computation at Altos Labs
Details for the seminar are as follows:

Date: Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Time: 12:00-1:00pm
Location: Evanston Campus, Room TBD

March - CSB Social
2025-03-20 16:00 - 17:00 | Chicago Campus, 303 East Superior Street, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States

March - Research In Progress Meeting
2025-03-20 15:00 - 16:00 | Chicago Campus, 303 East Superior Street, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States

CSB Ethics Conversation
2025-03-20 14:00 - 15:00 | Chicago Campus, 303 East Superior Street, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States
Engage in thoughtful discourse and broaden your perspective through our community ethics discussions in synthetic biology. Explore the ethical implications of genetic manipulation, bioengineering advancements, and the responsible integration of synthetic biology into our society, fostering a deeper understanding of the complex intersections between science, technology, and society.Our quarterly discussions are one-hour long led by SynBAS students and are open to all CSB members.

CANCELLED - CSB Seminar Series - Caleb Bashor
2025-03-11 12:00 - 13:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
***PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES.***

Caleb Bashor is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering & Biosciences at Rice University.
Details for the seminar are as follows:

Date: Tuesday, March 11th, 2025
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm
Location: Evanston Campus

February - CSB Social
2025-02-11 17:00 - 18:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States

CSB Seminar Series - Patrick Mbullo Owuor
2025-02-11 16:00 - 17:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
Patrick Mbullo Owuor is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Public Health at Wayne State University.
From the Lab to the Field: Integrating the Human-Centered Design to Enhance Acceptability and Usability of Biosynthetic Technology in Kenya
Biosynthetic innovations are rapidly transforming the technological landscape. With recent advancements, biosynthetic technology is becoming critical in food and water insecurity by offering point-of-use pathogen detection tool kits. With changing biodiversity and the impacts of climate change, there is a need for user-centered and sustainable technologies. However, it is uncommon to incorporate user experiences in biotechnology when designing and developing new products. Furthermore, the adoption of biosynthetic technologies in the field, especially in resource-constrained regions, has yet to be explored.
Details for the seminar are as follows:

Date: Tuesday, February 11th, 2025
Time: 4:00-5:00pm
Location: Evanston Campus

CSB Workshop - Patrick Mbullo Owuor
2025-02-10 16:00 - 17:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
**Please note new day and time below.**
Title: Navigating the stakeholder’s landscape: An immersive, experiential workshop on translating synthetic biology innovations into the world.
Abstract:
Developing impactful synthetic biology technologies requires them to be successfully adopted by real world stakeholders. This makes understanding the stakeholders ‘ecosystem’ an important part of translating any synthetic biology innovation. In this workshop, we will employ a human-centered design approach to explore the role of stakeholders’ ecosystems in the successful development, adoption, and implementation of user-friendly (or centered) synthetic biology innovations. The workshop will focus on the case study of PLANT-Dx, a CRISPR-based biosensor technology being developed in the Center for Synthetic Biology to monitor crop pathogens from seed to post-harvest stages. In this immersive, experiential workshop, participants (developers) will work to unlock and navigate the complex ecosystem of stakeholders involved in technology design, development, transfer, and adoption in Africa. Lessons learned from this case study will then be applied to critically analyze key components of the stakeholder ecosystems relevant to technologies participants are researching.

February- Research In Progress Meeting
2025-02-10 12:00 - 13:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States

January - Research In Progress Meeting
2025-01-13 12:00 - 13:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States

December - Research In Progress Meeting
2024-12-02 12:00 - 13:00 | Chicago Campus, 303 East Superior Street, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States

November - CSB Social
2024-11-15 16:00 - 17:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States

November - Research In Progress Meeting
2024-11-15 15:00 - 16:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States

October - Research In Progress Meeting
2024-10-16 12:00 - 13:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States

2024 CSB Annual Retreat
2024-10-11 09:00 - 17:30 | Off-Campus, Evanston, IL
Join the Center for Synthetic Biology (CSB) faculty, staff, and trainees, and guest speakers from academia and industry for our Annual Retreat to exchange ideas, career experiences, and path-breaking research across different disciplines in the field of synthetic biology. Registration is free and open to CSB community members.
CSB Annual Retreat
Friday, October 11, 2024
Hilton Garden Inn, Evanston, IL
Retreat website
Registration has closed. Please contact csb@northwestern.edu for registration questions.

Central US Synthetic Biology Workshop
2024-09-19 - 2024-09-20 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States

August - CSB Symposium Social
2024-08-16 14:15 - 16:00 | Evanston Campus, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, United States
Join us at our upcoming social event celebrating our SynBREU and DeFeo cohorts and immerse yourself in a vibrant community of synthetic biologists. Connect and engage with fellow students, postdocs, staff, and faculty over refreshments.

June - Monthly CSB Social
2024-06-28 16:00 - 17:00 | Chicago Campus, 303 East Superior Street, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States
Join us at our upcoming monthly social event and immerse yourself in a vibrant community of synthetic biologists. Connect and engage with fellow students, postdocs, staff, and faculty over refreshments.

June - CSB Ethics Conversation
2024-06-28 15:00 - 16:00 | Chicago Campus, 303 East Superior Street, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States

Sharing Knowledge: Presentations & Networking
2024-06-28 14:00 - 15:00 | Chicago Campus, 303 East Superior Street, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States
Developing presentations for scientific audiences, elevator pitches for short interactions, and best practices for networking at conferences
