Plenary Session: “Crossing Boundaries in the Interdisciplinary Nature of Science and Engineering”

September 2024 Plenary Speaker: Dr. Jay Sarkar, PhD

Dr. Sarkar is an entrepreneur, biophysicist, and engineer whose career has been marked by innovations that cross the boundaries of engineering design and the life sciences. Dr. Sarkar received his undergraduate degree in Applied Physics from Rice University, and subsequently received his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Following this, Dr. Sarkar received his Ph.D. In Biophysics from Stanford University under the supervision of Vittorio Sebastiano in Systems Biology / Stem Cell Biology, where his dissertation focused on engineering platforms for leveraging stem cell therapy in regenerative medicine. Following this, Dr. Sarkar was one of the co-founders of Turn Biotechnologies, where he formerly served as the Chief Technological Officer (CTO) for a number of years, during which Turn Bio has since grown to be one of the leading mRNA delivery biopharmaceutical companies in the Bay Area and in the world. Following this, Dr. Sarkar maintains an instructor role at Stanford and has moved in new directions, now serving as the CTO of a startup biotechnology company, in using his background as an electrical engineer to shed new light on how biomacromolecules and cell signaling technologies may pave the way for our ability to understand and reprogram cellular code and logic for therapeutic application. Dr. Sarkar's company, in collaboration with faculty at ASDRP and three student co-inventors, has previously filed US patents in developing modular molecular approaches with imbued cellular logic.