Leadership

Michelle O’Malley

Director and Principal Investigator, NSF ExFAB BioFoundry
Cliff R. Scholle Professor of Chemical Engineering and Professor of Bioengineering 

Dr. O’Malley’s research group engineers anaerobic microbes and consortia for sustainable chemical & material production, bioremediation, and natural product discovery.

Ian Wheeldon

Co-Director and Principal Investigator, NSF ExFAB BioFoundry
Associate Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering

Dr. Wheeldon’s lab is interested in engineering new multi-enzyme pathway biocatalysts with controlled spatial locations, distances, and orientations to control substrate flux along pathways.

Jamie Snyder

Co-Principal Investigator, ExFAB
Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences

Dr. Snyder’s research focuses on viruses that infect organisms living in extreme environments, including high temperature (70-90C) and low pH (pH 1-4) environments.

Jason Stajich

Co-Principal Investigator, NSF ExFAB BioFoundry
Professor, Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology

Dr. Stajich uses computational and evolutionary genomics approaches to study microbial evolution and ecology with a focus on Fungi. His research spans interactions of Fungi with plants, animals, Bacteria and mycoviruses.

David Valentine

Co-Principal Investigator, NSF ExFAB BioFoundry
Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Geochemistry &Norris Presidential Chair in Earth Science

Dr. Valentine conducts research at the interface of microbes, chemicals and the ocean.

Sherylle Mills Englander

Executive Manager, NSF ExFAB BioFoundry
Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives & Operations, California NanoSystems Institute

At CNSI, Ms. Englander responsible for the ideation and management of strategic initiatives, with a focus on supporting innovation and entrepreneurship, bridging the gap between academia and industry, and STEM workforce development.