2024 Bios & Abstracts
2024 Research Talks
Tanja Bosak, PhD
Tanja Bosak; Professor, MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
she/her/hers
Bio: Tanja Bosak was born in Croatia and graduated from the Zagreb University with a degree in Geophysics. After a summer of research at JPL, she moved to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, where she studied signatures of microbial processes in ancient sedimentary rocks and earned a Ph.D. in Geobiology. She spent two years at Harvard as a Microbial Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow, joined the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT in 2007 and is now a Professor of Geobiology and MIT School of Science Fundamental Science Investigator.
Tanja’s work explores modern biogeochemical and sedimentological processes, interprets the co-evolution of life and the environment during the first 80% of Earth history and guides the search for signs of past life on Mars. For this work, and her work with graduate students and undergraduates, Bosak received the Subaru Outstanding Woman in Science award by the Geological Society of America (2007), the Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union (2011), the Edgerton Award for young faculty at MIT (2012), the Undergraduate Research Opportunities for Undergraduates Mentor of the Year award by MIT (2012) and the Award for Outstanding Contributions and Dedication to Geobiology and Geomicrobiology from The Geobiology and Geomicrobiology Division of The Geological Society of America. Bosak is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2011) and the American Academy of Microbiology (2021).
Talk: Travel to Earth's Microbial Past and the Search for Life on Mars
Abstract: The interplay among environmental chemistry, organismal evolution and microbial stress responses contributed to the preservation of a nearly 3.5 billion-year long record of microbial life by silica, carbonate and clay minerals. In this talk, I will use the genomic and fossil records of Cyanobacteria, the organismal lineage with the oldest fossil record, to ask when this photosynthetic lineage evolved the critical ability to produce oxygen. I will then present results of experimental work that shows the ability of cyanobacteria to promote their own fossilization by precipitating silica and carbonate minerals. These results help constrain the concentrations of silica in marine environments more than two billion years ago, explain the preservation of exquisite cyanobacterial fossils in chert lenses associated with ancient carbonate deposits and can inform the search for signs of past life on Mars.
Colleen Cavanaugh, PhD
Colleen Cavanaugh, PhD; PrEdward C. Jeffrey Professor of Biology, Dept. of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Adjunct Scientist, The Ecosystems Center
she/her/hers
Bio: Colleen Cavanaugh is the Edward C. Jeffrey Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and was Co-Director of the Microbial Sciences Initiative at Harvard from 2003-2018. She is an Adjunct Research Scientist at The Ecosystems Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. Her research interests center on microbial symbiosis with a particular emphasis on bacteria-animal associations. This includes studying diversity, transmission strategies, and coevolution of host and symbiont. She has participated in research cruises worldwide with deep-sea dives in the submersible Alvin. With expertise in the study of uncultured bacteria, her research has expanded from marine symbioses to the characterization of the microbiomes of human and wild animals and their role in health and disease. This includes recent studies on the gut microbiome of Darwin’s finches and the human oral microbiome.
Cavanaugh received her B.G.S. from the University of Michigan, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard. She was a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at the Delft University of Technology, a Junior Fellow at Harvard, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Microbiology.
Talk Modern mysteries in microbial symbioses: Missing enzymes, absentee guts, and (not so secret) guiding principles
Abstract: We live in a microbial world. As a result, symbioses with microbes are ubiquitous in nature, ranging from intimate associations between host and intracellular microbes to the human microbiome. These relationships significantly influence the physiology, development, and evolution of the partners, while also shaping Earth's ecosystems, leading to the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. Given the diverse metabolic capabilities of bacteria, nutritional symbioses are particularly prevalent, allowing the partners to colonize and thrive in otherwise unavailable ecological niches. We now know that symbioses between chemosynthetic bacteria and marine invertebrates, initially discovered at the "exotic" ecosystems of deep-sea hydrothermal vents, are widespread in both deep-sea and shallow reducing environments. This finding revealed numerous examples of animals and protists that are virtually independent of photosynthetic primary production. Here, I will present a brief history of the discovery of chemosynthetic symbioses as it parallels the advent of molecular microbial ecology. I will also discuss insights gleaned from our studies on symbiont transmission strategies – “infecting” the next host - and an "alternate” Calvin Cycle. Such strategies can be most readily recognized and understood by viewing microbial symbioses through both evolutionary AND ecological lenses.
Ashlee Earl, PhD
Ashlee Earl, Research Scientist, Director of the Bacterial Genomics Group, and Institute Scientist at the Broad Institute
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Bio: Ashlee Earl is a microbiologist, genomicist, and bacterial enthusiast. She is currently a senior research scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and director of the Bacterial Genomics Group, which she founded in 2013 after coordinating much of the Broad’s research in the Human Microbiome Project. Within the Broad’s Genomic Center for Infectious Diseases and Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Earl is working to understand the relationship between microbes and human health, including how multidrug-resistant pathogens emerge and spread. She has organized and led dozens of collaborations that bring together experts in infectious disease, sequencing technologies, and bioinformatics to dissect pathogen and host contributions to human bacterial infections, including tuberculosis, urinary tract infections, and hospital-associated infections. Earl was recently inducted into the American Academy of Microbiology.
Prior to joining the Broad Institute, Earl earned her B.S. and Ph.D. in microbiology from Louisiana State University where she was first introduced to the emerging field of bacterial genomics while studying Deinococcus radiodurans, one of the first species to have a full genome solved, and postdoctoral training from Harvard Medical School with Dr. Roberto Kolter, where she studied the “many faces” of Bacillus subtilis and the art (and science) of wine tasting.
Talk: Travelers as sentinels of the antibiotic resistance pandemic
Abstract: The SARS-Cov-2 pandemic powerfully demonstrated the human health implications of our interconnected world. Antibiotic resistance has been called a “slow moving pandemic” yet little is known about how antibiotic resistant organisms - or their resistance genes - are globally distributed, or the magnitude and implications of their migration between reservoirs, people, and regions. We partnered with the founders of the Global TravEpi Network, a national network of travel clinics, along with US CDC, to use international travelers as passive microbe samplers to learn about the distribution and global migration of antibiotic resistance. I will discuss highlights from this work including the impact of travel destination and traveler behavior on the risk of acquiring resistant organisms, the role of the gut microbiome, and what else hitches a ride back home with travelers. This work demonstrates that travelers can act as sentinels for global antibiotic resistance, provide early warnings for emerging risks, and close gaps in existing surveillance networks.
Nicole Gerardo, PhD
Nicole Gerardo, PhD; Professor, Emory University Department of Biology; Director, Emory Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
she/her/hers
Bio: Nicole M. Gerardo is an evolutionary ecologist and Professor of Biology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She received a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Rice University in 1997, before beginning her graduate training at the University of Texas at Austin, where she received a PhD in Integrative Biology in 2004. Her PhD work, under advisor Ulrich Mueller, focused on co-evolution of fungi associated with fungus-growing ants, a system that she still loves and studies today.
In 2005, she began an NIH IRACDA postdoctoral training fellowship in research and teaching under the guidance of Nancy Moran, where she began her studying beneficial insect-bacterial symbioses, focusing on aphids. Since joining the faculty at Emory University in 2008, she has developed a number of systems to explore fundamental questions about the ecology and evolution of host-microbe symbioses, leveraging experimentally tractable insect systems.
Beyond her research, she is passionate about undergraduate and graduate training. She runs Emory’s Undergraduate Biology Research for Credit Program, directs Emory’s Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences and leads workshops on mentoring.
Talk: The many steps to forming an animal-bacterial symbiosis
Abstract: Most animals and plants form symbioses with microbial partners that are critical for their health. In many cases, these hosts must acquire specific, critical microbial symbionts from the environment. Using a tractable insect-bacteria model, we study the mechanisms and consequences of such acquisition. Squash bugs (Anasa spp.) uptake Caballeronia spp. bacteria from the environment each generation. We demonstrate that they do this, in part, via evolved behaviors to search for the bacteria released from adults. Symbiont uptake leads to coordinated developmental changes of both the hosts and symbionts, and both stochastic and deterministic process shape the final symbiont population that establishes within each host, ultimately maintaining variation both within hosts and across host populations. Together, these observations highlight how symbiosis shapes both hosts and microbes across multiple scales.
Daniel Graham, PhD
Daniel B. Graham; Director of Functional Genomics, Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program, Broad Institute
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Bio: Daniel Graham is the Director of Functional Genomics in the Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program at the Broad Institute, where he is also an Institute Scientist. He is an Instructor at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Molecular Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Graham’s research leverages insights from human genetics to dissect molecular mechanisms of immunity and inflammatory pathologies. His work addresses how genetic and environment factors, such as the microbiome, impact immune function in the context of health and autoimmune disease. By bridging diverse scientific disciplines through collaboration, these efforts aim to discover fundamental mechanisms of immunity and make direct connections with human biology.
Graham’s research collaborations span across the extended Broad community. He is a member of the Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (CSIBD) at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He is also a member of the Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics (CMIT) at MIT. Prior to joining the Broad Institute, Graham completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in the Division of Immunobiology. He earned a Ph.D. in immunology from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and studied biochemistry at Bates College.
Talk: A view of the microbiome through the lens of the immune system
Abstract: Reciprocal interactions between the host immune system and the microbiome promote healthy immune function, but also contribute to pathological states associated with autoimmunity, cancer, allergy, and neurodegenerative disease. Despite the recognized importance of the microbiome in immunity, it remains unclear what the immune system can recognize in the microbiome, what it ignores, and what triggers a reaction. To define the rules of immunogenicity, we employed immunopeptidomics and developed machine learning tools to mine large metagenomics datasets for microbiome antigens. Accordingly, we uncovered a series of immunodominant commensal antigens that elicit T cell responses. In healthy human subjects, microbiome-reactive T cells were associated with anti-inflammatory responses, while in patients with active Crohn’s disease, responses were associated with robust inflammation. These results highlight the potential of targeted antigen discovery within the microbiome to reveal principles of tolerance and functional transitions to pathological states.
Roberto Kolter, PhD
Roberto Kolter, PhD; Professor of Microbiology, Emeritus, Harvard Medical School; Blogger at Small Things Considered
he/him/his
Bio: Roberto Kolter is Professor of Microbiology, Emeritus at Harvard Medical School, an author, and past president of the American Society for Microbiology. Kolter has been a professor at Harvard Medical School since 1983 and was Co-director of Harvard's Microbial Sciences Initiative from 2003-2018. During the 35-year term of the Kolter laboratory from 1983 to 2018, more than 130 graduate student and postdoctoral trainees explored an eclectic mix of topics gravitating around the study of microbes. Kolter is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Academy of Microbiology.
As Professor Emeritus, Kolter has continued his involvement in science by communicating microbiology to scientific and general audiences. Since 2016, Kolter has been co-blogger (with Moselio Schaechter) of the popular microbiology blog, Small Things Considered. From 2014 to 2018, Kolter and Scott Chimileski developed two exhibitions at the Harvard Museum of Natural History: World in a Drop, open in 2017, and Microbial Life, open through 2020. In parallel, Chimileski and Kolter wrote the book Life at the Edge of Sight: A Photographic Exploration of the Microbial World (Harvard University Press, 2017). During a 2018 interview at EAFIT University in Colombia, Kolter explained that he is “in a more contemplative phase of his career," adding that he is enjoying "being able to exercise a little more the 'Ph' (Philosophy) of my PhD".
Talk: The Future is in the Past
Abstract: In the pursuit of knowledge scientists are forever looking for new directions of inquiry. Interestingly, in planning future directions the past is often forgotten and events of "re-inventing the wheel" abound. In addition, in seeking new directions the full scope of existing methodologies is not explored because of over-specialization. Not surprisingly, such instances of neglect in studying the past and broadening our knowledge base can result in duplicative efforts and slow progress. In a personal retrospective, I'll relate some instances of how diving into the past guided (and continues to guide) my research
Alex Probst, PhD
Alex Probst; Professor, Research Alliance Ruhr & University of Duisburg-Essen, Department of Chemistry
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Bio: Alexander Probst received his PhD at the Archaea Center in Regensburg in 2014 and simultaneously worked as a bioinformatician at a startup in South San Francisco (Second Genome, Inc.). Afterwards, Alex did his postdoctoral training with Jill Banfield at UC Berkeley. In 2017, Alex became an assistant and in 2018 an associate professor for Aquatic Microbial Ecology at University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Since 2022, Alex is a full and distinguished professor for Environmental Metagenomics at the Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr.
Talk: Ecophysiology of microbes from the deep biosphere
Abstract: The deep biosphere, microbial life residing tens to hundreds of meters below ground, includes the most enigmatic life forms on Earth due to the vast inaccessibility of its ecosystems. However, microorganisms in the deep subsurface comprise about 70% of all microbes on our planet and can cover a major proportion of the diversity of the tree of life within a single ecosystem. Focusing on one microbial genus (Ca. Altiarchaeum sp.) whose representatives are highly abundant carbon fixers in Earth’s crust and can dominate subsurface ecosystems, we explored their ecophysiology by applying multiple ecogenomics approaches and various microscopy techniques including correlative light and electron microscopy. We reveal novel symbionts of these organisms that live in a complex relationship presumably driven by parasitism and mutualism simultaneously. We also investigate the viruses associated with these organisms and identify active virulent viruses that infect these organisms in the deep biosphere. Virocells of Ca. Altiarchaea interestingly harbored a sub-cellular organization and underwent morphological changes during infection. These results based on cutting-edge technologies for studying microbial interactions demonstrate the complexity of microbial life in the deep biosphere and provide a first glimpse at their ecophysiology.
Wenyuan Shi, PhD
Wenyuan Shi; Chief Executive Officer, The ADA Forsyth Institute
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Bio: Dr. Wenyuan Shi is currently the Chief Executive Officer of The ADA Forsyth Institute, a world class dental research institute. Prior to this position, Dr. Shi was the chairman and professor of Oral Biology at UCLA School of Dentistry as well as the Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics at UCLA School of Medicine for 23 years, then joined The Forsyth Institute as the president and CEO in 2017. Scientifically, Dr. Shi has been leading numerous NIH grants to use multidisciplinary approaches to study oral microbial pathogenesis with a specific focus on oral microbiome, bacterial inter-species interaction and signal transduction. Technologically, Dr. Shi is actively involved in the development of next generation of diagnostic and therapeutic tools against oral microbial infections, including saliva diagnosis of oral pathogens and peptide based targeted antimicrobial therapeutics. These translational research efforts have resulted in novel technologies that were licensed and developed by major pharmaceutical, dental and biotech companies. Dr. Shi was the founding scientist, former chief scientific officer and chairman of the scientific advisory board of C3J Therapeutics Inc., which is now called Armata Pharmaceuticals (https://www.armatapharma.com), listed on NYSE. Administratively, Dr. Shi has been leading a three-pillared strategic plan at the ADA Forsyth Institute for its cutting-edge dental research, technology development and global expansion.
Dr. Shi obtained his BS degree (biology) from Fudan University (Shanghai) in 1984, acquired his Ph.D degree (Genetics) from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1991 and fulfilled his postdoctoral training at University of California-Berkeley during 1992-1995. He is co-author and co-inventor of over 260 scientific articles and ~50 patents and patent applications.
Talk: Structure, function and manipulation of microbiome in oral cavity
Abstract: More than 700 microbial species have been identified in oral cavity, making oral microbiome one of the most diverse and complex ecosystem which is highly relevant to disease and health. From traditional microbial physiology, genetics and pathogenesis, to latest genomic technology, data science and imaging tools, the ADA Forsyth Institute has been the pioneer and leader to understand oral microbiome structure at micron level and their connection to the ecological functions. Given the strong association of oral microbiome vs dental diseases, the ADA Forsyth Institute also has successful track record on developing most advanced diagnostic and therapeutic tools to manipulate oral microbiome. The presentation will cover the latest advancements in oral microbiome research at the ADA Forsyth Institute.
2024 Featured Artists
Michele Banks
Michele Banks; Artist
she/her/hers
Bio: Michele Banks (aka Artologica) is an artist inspired by science. Her artwork, on themes ranging from neuroscience to the microbiome to climate change, been shown at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and at the American Society for Microbiology , as well as at many galleries and art festivals. Her paintings have been featured on the covers of journals and books and in publications including Scientific American, The Scientist and Wired. Based in Washington, DC, she has collaborated with scientists as an artist in residence at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station in Finland at at the Institut Jacques Monod in Paris. you can learn more about her work at www.artologica.net
Focus: I mainly work in painting, usually with water media, either watercolor on paper or ink and water on yupo (a polypropylene "paper"). I like using water media for two reasons: first, it naturally forms fractal patterns like those found in nature and second, because its translucency allows me to hint at what's happening beneath surfaces. My artistic practice involves a lot of reading and absorbing images, but when it comes to making the actual paintings, I am somewhat unstructured. I look on the entire enterprise of painting as an ongoing experiment. When I decide to make a painting, I do plan certain elements, but a lot of decisions are made in the moment. Especially when I am working with ink and water, I allow the materials to have a natural flow. I work in series of paintings, developing bodies of work on a theme for several months at a time, sometimes taking a break to focus on other work and returning with fresh eyes.
My work is unique in several ways, beginning with the subject matter, which may involve things like soil microbes or drosophila wings. I move back and forth across the line between representation and abstraction as the project calls for it, although I generally try to include recognizable motifs and images as a way to draw people into the work. While working with ink on yupo, I came up with a technique for dropping ink onto a wet surface, allowing it to form patterns for a while, and then washing most of it away, leaving ghostly outlines. I love using this technique to suggest the processes of learning, remembering, and forgetting.
Mark O. Martin, PhD
Mark O. Martin, PhD; Associate Professor of Biology, University of Puget Sound
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Bio: Mark O. Martin is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. His work as a mentor and educator has been recognized by the 2018 American Society for Microbiology Carski Award, as well as being selected as an ASM Distinguished Lecturer from 2020 – 2022. He also hosts #MattersMicrobial (microbe.tv/mm), a weekly podcast exploring microbiology and the lives of microbiologists. An avowed “microbial centrist” and “microbial whisperer,” he works tirelessly in and out of the classroom to promote what he calls “#MattersMicrobial” to all who will listen. His microbial mania includes not only Martin’s students, but also his long-suffering yet supportive wife Dr. Jennifer Quinn and tolerant sons Anson and Zachary.
Focus: Martin’s undergraduate research group explores the genetics of predatory and other “undomesticated” microbes, as well as novel symbioses between bacteria and terrestrial and marine animals. Over the years, Martin has sent 26 of his undergraduate research students to PhD programs across the Unites States, five of whom are currently in faculty positions.
Martin is well known for incorporating social media and “creative” approaches in his classroom, mixing art and science in ways that students find memorable. He has found that creative approaches in the classroom and laboratory translate into effective learning outcomes.
Noémie Matthey, PhD
Noémie Matthey, PhD; Illustrator & Postdoc, Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
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Bio: Noémie Matthey is a Swiss scientist and science artist. She did her PhD in Prof. Melanie Blokesch’s lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, working on natural competence in Vibrio species. She is now a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Justine Collier’s group, studying DNA methylation in the Caulobacter crescentus bacterium.
In her spare time, Noémie is a science illustrator and she enjoys creating sci-art drawings to better communicate scientific concepts to lay audiences. Her artwork focus mainly on microbiology and she particularly likes to design anthropomorphized bacteria and viruses with funny eyes. She is the illustrator behind the Bacterial World blog and together with its science communicator: Sarah Wettstadt, they published in 2023 an educational colouring book about bacteria and their super-powers. Noémie has also created several logos for lab, conference or company and her digital art has been featured in books, publication and on the covers of journals such as Journal of Bacteriology and Trends in Microbiology.
You can learn more about her work at https://campsite.bio/noemiematthey
Focus: Although Noémie likes to experiment with different media, she is mostly doing digital and pen & ink drawings. With the latter, she enjoys doing stippling to add some texture and depth. This technique that can be time consuming is also quite soothing. In the last years, she experimented and gained a lot of knowledge in digital art and she loves the infinite possibilities that this medium brings, making that medium her favorite.
Noémie’s work is inspired by science and she mostly focuses on microbiological discoveries. During her creation process, she likes to transform and somehow translate a scientific concept into another more fun and accessible image that can be inspired by day to day life, movies or even video games.
Jennifer Quinn, PhD
Jennifer Quinn, PhD; Professor of Mathematics, University of Washington Tacoma, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences; Past President, Mathematical Association of America
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Bio: Jenny Quinn is Past-President of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), and professor of mathematics at the University of Washington Tacoma. She earned her BA, MS, and PhD from Williams College, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of Wisconsin, respectively. At UW Tacoma for the past 16 years, she helped build a mathematics curriculum on the expanding campus. Jenny has held many positions of national leadership in mathematics including Executive Director of the Association for Women in Mathematics, co-editor of MAA’s Math Horizons, and President of MAA 2021-22. She has received national awards for her teaching and writing. Committed to making mathematics accessible, appreciated, and humane especially during the global pandemic, Jenny began the blog Math in the Time of Corona where she chronicled her experiences on emergency remote teaching of mathematics, maintaining humanity, and building community in isolation. As a combinatorial scholar, Jenny thinks that beautiful proofs are as much art as science. Simplicity, elegance, transparency, and fun should be the driving principles.
For more than a dozen year's, Jenny has partnered with her husband Mark Martin to create bioluminescent portraits of scientists, making science into art. In 2023, their collaboration 'Luminaries of Microbiology' was named the First Place Winner in the ASM-TMC MicroArt Contest.
Focus: I have drawn my entire life but never thought I was particularly good at it. When Mark asked me to paint on petri dishes with a culture of Photobacterium leiognathi, I found my medium. It took many plates and quite a few failures but together, we create scientific portraits in living light.
There is something magical about the temporary nature of these works. Painting with bacterial culture is like painting with water. We are never sure what will eventually develop until the culture grows and glows. Then it only lasts for a day.
Mark is the microbe whisperer. He brings the scientific inspiration for the subjects and is the master photographer to preserve these temporary works. I could not do this without him.
Joshua Rosenstock, PhD
Joshua Pablo Rosenstock Professor of Art, Interactive Media & Game Development, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
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Bio: Joshua Pablo Rosenstock is a multimedia artist, musician, and educator based in Somerville, MA. His work playfully explores the relationship between humans, technology, and the natural world.
He earned an MFA in Art & Technology Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
He has presented artwork at venues including the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Peabody Essex Museum, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Cabaret Voltaire in Zürich, Switzerland, the Dislocate festival in Yokohama, Japan, and the Montreal Anarchist Book Fair. Additionally, he is a multi-instrumentalist who has performed in musical ensembles throughout the Bay Area, Midwest, and New England.
Focus: Since 2013, I have worked on the Fermentophone project. Fermentophone is a multi-sensory, bio-art installation in which a generative musical composition is performed by live cultures of bacteria and yeast in fermenting foods and beverages. Various iterations of the project have been presented at the MIT Media Lab, the Boston Fermentation Festival, MASS MoCA, the Farm/Art DTour, and most recently the Harvard Museum of Natural History.