Christopher Voigt

Christopher Voigt is an American synthetic biologist, molecular biophysicist, and engineer. He is currently an assistant Professor in the Pharmaceutical Chemistry department of the University of California - San Francisco with appointments in the Biophysics and the Chemistry and Chemical Biology graduate student programs. His research interests focus on the reprogramming of bacterial organisms to perform coordinated, complex tasks for pharmaceutical and industrial applications. He is a member of the National Science Foundation-funded Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center, called SynBERC, and is a leader in the developing field of synthetic biology. His recent successes include:

• Engineering a bacterial two-component system to regulate gene expression in response to red light.^[1]

• Engineering bacteria to sense its environment and conditionally invade cancer cells either when the concentration of bacteria is large enough, when the environment has little oxygen (e.g. inside a tumor), or when a specific chemical is present. ^[2]

• Constructing a logical AND gate inside bacteria.^[3]

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Current research projects use these new environmental sensors and logical switches to control the assembly and function of newly redesigned systems, such as a secretion needle that exports spider silk proteins or a photosynthetic apparatus responsible for converting light into chemical energy. These redesigned (or refactored) systems can help us to tackle the important problems facing a 21st century world, including meeting the energy demand and finding new, stronger materials.

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