Megan Hopton Receives the Synthetic Biology & Biotechnology Fellowship
Megan Hopton of the Hao Lab, recently received the Synthetic Biology & Biotechnology (SB2) Fellowship.
SB2’s mission is to foster the next generation of researchers capable of rigorously and creatively applying synthetic biology principles and approaches to a broad range of scientific problems. In addition to building a field-defining synthetic biology curriculum that includes technical training, mastery of computational and data analysis methods, and critical thinking skills, SB2 provides robust training in the professional development skills required for success in this highly interdisciplinary field, as well as unique exposure into the biotechnology sector that is already being transformed by this field.
In Megan’s research, she is developing nanosensors that respond to the activity of endogenous proteases by emitting bioorthogonal “synthetic biomarkers”. She aims to leverage this highly multiplexable technology to create low-cost, noninvasive, point-of-care diagnostics that can be used to detect cancer or differentiate between disease etiologies. She is also interested in establishing a high-throughput approach to assess protease activity in a spatial context in order to better inform the development of protease-activatable diagnostics and therapeutics.
Congratulations Megan!