Endy joins Biodesign board

<p>ASU’s Biodesign Institute has named biological engineer Drew Endy to its advisory board.</p><separator></separator><p>Endy is an assistant professor in the biological engineering department at MIT, where he co-founded the Synthetic Biology working group and the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. He organized the first “International Conference on Synthetic Biology,” and his synthetic biology labs led to the organization of the “International Genetically Engineered Machine” competition, a worldwide genetic engineering competition for undergraduates.</p><separator></separator><p>Endy is one of a handful of pre-eminent researchers in the emerging field of synthetic biology, and he has led a number of initiatives supporting free access to genetic information as a means to encourage greater progress in the field.</p><separator></separator><p>Endy’s research has focused on developing foundational tools that make it easier to engineer biology, so that many more biotechnology applications can be readily realized – from medical therapies, to chemical and materials manufacture, to environmental sensing and remediation.</p><separator></separator><p>He also has been instrumental in founding several organizations, including the Molecular Sciences Institute, an independent, nonprofit biological research lab in Berkeley, Calif.; Codon Devices Inc., a venture-funded startup working to develop next-generation DNA synthesis technology; and the BioBricks Foundation, a nonprofit group promoting development, standardization and responsible use of standard biological parts to make them freely available to the public.</p><separator></separator><p>The advisory board is an elite 14-member group chaired by Stephen Benkovic, who is the Evan Pugh Professor and Eberly Chair in Chemistry at Penn State.</p><separator></separator><p>Julie Kurth, <a href="mailto:julie.kurth@asu.edu">julie.kurth@asu.edu</a><br />(480) 727-9386<br />Biodesign Institute</p>