Diversity in Bioengineering

If the 2018 Oscars are remembered for anything, it will be for bringing the term “inclusion rider” into common parlance. Frances McDormand used the phrase at the end of her Best Actress acceptance speech to refer to a clause that actors can request to be added to their contracts.  It means actors or filmmakers can use their negotiating power to insist that there is a certain level of diversity within the casting and production staff.

Hollywood is not the only workplace with low levels of diversity. At present, women and ethnic minorities are under-represented across STEM. For example, in 2018, the year I wrote the first version of this post, there were only 25 black female professors in the UK, out of the nineteen-thousand-strong professoriate. This number is growing, but very slowly. In 2023, there are 61 with the increase being driven by organisations like 100 Black Professors NOW.

Diverse teams are more rigorous when interrogating data and are more innovative. In science, researchers from underrepresented groups have been found to innovate at higher rates, but are more frequently discounted and less likely to result in successful careers. Further, scientists tend to be motivated to work on things that are important to them, so it’s incredibly important that the scientific community is reflective of the communities that they innovate and research on behalf of.

Women (and especially black women) who work in STEM, often find themselves less visible. They are less likely to be awarded fellowships and prizes, less likely to be invited to participate on panels, less likely to be invited to conferences and, consequently, less likely to be promoted into positions of leadership. I have heard many excuses for a lack of diversity at specific events, including that the organising/recruiting committee couldn’t find any women – yes, really, I have been told this. Responses like these led me to put together this list of outstanding people who identify as women who all have leadership roles in the general area of ‘engineering biology’. This list represents a starting point for increasing speaker diversity in engineering biology/synthetic biology. Please share the list with anyone looking for speakers, panel members or invitees for events in synthetic biology and biological engineering. If you think someone is missing, please contact me with contact details. If you no longer want to be on the list, or if your title or weblink needs updating, just let me know. Allies, please consider using your own negotiating power by rejecting invitations to events that have not made an effort to secure balance. #inclusionrider

Other scientific communities are putting together similar lists and databases. For example:
• DiversifyPlantSci online resource by the NAASC Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Committee
• Women in Crop Science by https://womenincropscience.org/

• Adamala, Kate – Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota – Synthetic Minimal Cells
• Allen, Rosalind –  Professor, Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena/Edinburgh University – Theoretical Microbial Ecology
• Arinzeh, Treena – Professor,  New Jersey Institute of Technology – Tissue Engineering
• Arnold, Frances – Professor, Caltech – Evolutionary Protein Design
• Barry, Sarah –  Senior Lecturer, King’s College London – Novel Bioactive Compounds and Biocatalysts
• Becker, Anke – Professor, Universität Marburg – Host-Microbe Interactions
• Belcher, Angela – Professor, MIT – Nanoengineering and Biomolecular Materials
• Bintu, Lacra – Assistant Professor, Stanford University – Engineering Chromatin and Gene Regulation
• Borodina, Irena – Professor, Technical University of Denmark and CTO, BioPhero – Metabolic Engineering
• Braybrook, Siobhan – Associate Professor, UCLA – Plant and Algal Mechanics
• Brophy, Jennifer – Assistant Professor, Stanford University – Plant/Microbe Synthetic Biology
• Cachet, Elise – Lecturer, University of Edinburgh – Synthetic Communications, Morphology and /Patterning
• Ceroni, Francesa – Senior Lecturer, Imperial College London – Bacterial and Mammalian Synthetic Biology
• Chang, Michelle – Professor, University of Berkeley – Bimolecular Engineering
• Chen, Yvonne – Associate Professor, UCLA – Cell-based Therapies
• Contreros, Lydia – Professor, University of Texas at Austin – RNA Regulatory Systems
• Dang, Thu-Thuay – Assistant Professor – University of British Columbia – Natural Product Biosynthesis
• De May, Majan – Associate Professor, University of Ghent – Metabolic Engineering
• Demirer, Gozde – Assistant Professor, Caltech – Plant Nano- and Biotechnology
• Di Ventura, Barbara – Professor, University of Freiberg- Molecular and Cellular Engineering
• Dogterum, Marileen – Professor Delft University of Technology, Bionanoscience and Synthetic Cells
• Franco, Elisa – Professor, UCLA – Dynamic Nucleic Acid Systems
• Joshi, Jaya – Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia – Plant Synthetic Biology
• Hall, Lisa – Professor, University of Cambridge – Analytical Biotechnology
• Haynes, Karmella – Associate Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University – Chromatin Engineering
• Horsfall, Louise – Professor, University of Edinburgh – Sustainable Biotechnology
• Haurwitz, Rachel – CEO and Founder, Caribou Life Sciences
• Imoukhuede, Princess – Professor, Washington University in St. Louis – Precision Medicine
• Kaçar, Betül – Professor, University of Wisconsin, Madison – Molecular Paleobiology
• Kamat, Neha – Associate Professor, Northwestern University –Engineered Membranes, Artificial Cells, Membrane Biophysics, Polymersomes, Biomaterials
• Landry, Markita – Associate Professor, UC Berkeley – Synthetic Bio-mimetic Nanocomposites
• LeProust, Emily – CEO and Founder, Twist BioSciences
• Li, Pulin – Professor, MIT – Tissue Engineering
• Lopez, Patricia – Lecturer, University of Newcastle –  Plant Synthetic Biology
• Marks, Deboro – Professor, Harvard Medical School – Machine Learning
• Medford, June – Professor, Colorado State University – Plant Synthetic Biology
• Meyer, Anne – Professor, University of Rochester – Bacterial Synthetic Biology and Biomaterials
• Michi, Taga – Associate Professor,  University of Berkeley – Microbial Communities
• Milczek, Erica – CEO and Founder, CurieCo
• Mitchell, Leslie – Co-founder and CEO at Neochromosome – Synthetic Genomics
• Mortimer, Jenny – Associate Professor, University of Adelaide – Plant Synthetic Biology and Bioenergy
• Nakayama, Naomi – Reader, Imperial College London – Plant Biomechanics and Biomaterials
• Nemhauser, Jennifer – Professor, Unversity of Washington – Plant Synthetic and Developmental Biology
• O’Connor, Sarah – Director, Max Planck Institute of Chemical Ecology – Natural Product Biosynthesis
• Osbourn,  Anne – Professor, The John Innes Centre – Natural Product Biosynthesis
• Oyen, Michelle – Professor, Washington University, St Louis- Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering
• Oyston, Petra – Professor, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory – Microbiology
• Pavan, Marilene – Lanzatech
• Peralta-Yahya, Pamela – Associate Professor, Georgia Tech – Biochemical and Protein Engineering
• Prather, Kristala – Professor, MIT – Chemical Engineering
• Regan, Lynne – Professor, University of Edinburgh – Protein and Biomaterials Engineering
• Richardson, Sarah – CEO, Microbyre
• Rosser, Susan – Professor, University of Edinburgh -Yeast and Mammalian Synthetic Biology
• Rothschild,  Lynne – Professor, NASA Ames – Auto- and Synthetic Biology
• Roy, Sonali – Assistant Professor, Tennessee State – Plant-Microbe Interactions
• Sattely, Beth – Associate Professor, Stanford University – Engineering Plant Chemistry
• Schaerli, Yolanda – Professor, University of Lausanne – Bacterial Synthetic Biology
• Schulman, Rebecca – Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University – Nanotechnology and Intelligent Materials
• Segatori, Laura – Professor, Rice University – Cell and Protein Engineering
• Shetty, Reshma – Co-Founder, Ginkgo Bioworks
• Silver, Pam – Professor, Harvard – Cell and Protein Engineering
• Smith, Alison – Professor, University of Cambridge – Plant and Algal Metabolic Engineering
• Smoke, Christina – Professor, Stanford University – Synthetic Biology and Metabolic Engineering
• Stepanova, Anna – Associate Professor, North Caroline State University – Plant and Microbial Biology
• Strauss, Karin – Affiliate Professor University of Washington/Microsoft Research – Computer Science and Engineering
• Takano, Erico – Professor, University of Manchester – Metabolic Engineering
• Urbanowicz, Breeanna – Assistant Professor, University of Georgia – Plant Biochemistry
• Ting, Alice – Professor, Stanford University – Chemical Biology, Molecular and Cellular Networks
• Vickers, Claudia – Director, BioBuilt Solutions
• Yang, Chen –  Professor, Key State Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

• Bayliss, Françoise – Professor, Dalhousie University –  Bioethics and Philosophy
• Calvert, Jane – Professor, University of Edinburgh – Social Studies of Biology and Medicine
• Frow, Emma – Assistant Professor, Arizona State University – Emerging Biotechnologies
• Ginsberg, Alexandra Daisy – Multidisciplinary Artist Examining Nature and Technology
• Gould, Christine – CEO and Founder, ThoughtForFood
• Ingram, Karen – Artist and Creative Director Examining Biotechnology
• Jorgensen, Ellen – Cofounder of Aanika Biosciences, Genspace and Biotech Without Borders
• Kuldell, Natalie – President, The BioBuilder Educational Foundation
• Molloy, Jenny – Director, OpenBioEconomy Lab
• Palmer, Megan – Senior Director of Public Impact, Ginkgo Bioworks
• Sundaram, Lalitha – Senior Research Associate, University of Cambridge – Regulation and Governance
• Tait, Joyce – Professor, Innogen Institute, Edinburgh – Innovation, Risk Governance and Stakeholder Engagement
• Vogel, Kathleen – Professor, University of Maryland – Emerging Biotechnology Threats: