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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Biofoundry Week
September 15-20, 2025

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NSF iBioFoundry Annual Retreat, 
Advancing Synthetic Biology and Biomanufacturing
September 15, 2025

The NSF iBioFoundry is dedicated to developing new capabilities for biofoundries through an integrated and synergistic in-house research program and community-engaged program (user program) and providing the broader research community with unrestricted access to the research resources, training, education, and outreach activities developed in the center. Its overarching goal is to develop a cloud biofoundry that integrates synthetic biology, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), and laboratory automation to democratize basic and applied biological research. Such biofoundry will be remotely-accessible, programmable, and self-driving, and can be readily scaled up to bring the power of innovation in biology to everyone. It will revolutionize biology and the biotechnology industry similar to what computers did to computing and the microelectronics industry.

 

Venue: Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, Conference Room 612

Monday, September 15, 2025

 

 

9:00 - 9:45 am   Welcome & Status Report NSF iBioFoundry Center
Huimin Zhao
Director, NSF iBiofoundry
 
9:45 - 10:25 am   NSF iBioFoundry Lightning Talks
 
    NSF iBioFoundry Infrastructure
Stephan Lane, PhD, NSF iBioFoundry Manager

NSF iBioFoundry User Program
Nilamni Singh, PhD, NSF iBiofoundry Automation Engineer

AlphaSynBio - Synthetic Biology Pipeline
Matthew Berry, MS, NSF iBioFoundry Software Project Manager

NSF iBioFoundry Education / Workforce Development
Sarah Sterman, PhD, NSF iBioFoundry Thrust Leader
 
10:25 - 10:45 am   Coffee Break
 
10:45 - 11:45 am   Invited Talk: Nathan Hillson, PhD 
Senior Staff Scientist, Department of Energy (DOE) Agile Biofoundry,
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
 
12:45 - 1:45 pm   Lunch Break
 
 
12:45 - 1:45 pm   Panel - Reconceptualizing Research in Context of Biofoundries
   

Moderator: 

  • Steven Burgess, PhD, Assistant Professor, Plant Biology 

Panelists: 

  • Matt Hudson, PhD, Professor, Crop Sciences
  • Yong-Su Jin, PhD, Professor, Food Science and Human Nutrition
  • Stephan Lane, PhD, iBioFoundry Manager
     
1:45 - 2:45 pm   Panel - Cloud iBioFoundry Software Platform
   


Moderator: 

  • Ge Liu, PhD, Assistant Professor, Computer Sciences

Panelists: 

  • ChengXiang Zhai, PhD, Professor, Computer Sciences, AI & Machine Learning, LLM
  • Kris Hauser, PhD, Professor, Computer Sciences, Robotics, Motion Planning
  • Nancy Amato, PhD, Professor, Director of the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, Robotics
  • Matthew West, PhD, Professor, Mechanical Science and Engineering, Control and Dynamical Systems
     
2:45 - 3:30 pm   Breakout Sessions on Key Deliverables and Program Priorities
 
   
  • In-House Research Program, Lead: Chris Rao, PhD
  • User Program, Lead: Nilmani Singh, PhD
  • Education and Workforce Development, Lead: Sarah Sterman, PhD
  • Cloud Biofoundry Platform, Lead: Huimin Zhao, PhD
     
3:30 - 4:10 pm   Report-Out Session on Key Deliverables and Program Priorities
 
4:10 - 4:15 pm   Closing Remarks

Huimin Zhao, Director, NSF iBioFoundry