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Splash at Northwestern: May 25th, 2024!


NU Splash Biography

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ANDREW SCARPELLI, Synthetic Biology Doctoral Candidate




College: Northwestern University

Major: Molecular Biology

Year of Graduation: G

Picture of Andrew Scarpelli

Brief Biographical Sketch:

Synthetic Biology is a lot of things: It's a growing field combining biology and engineering. It's a world view that struggles to determine what we know about living systems and how we can use those systems and tools to create something new. It's a scientific buzz word that has yet to determine it's legacy. It's a scary frontier of individuals manipulating living organisms.

More than anything else, synthetic biology is about helping bridge communities. The synthetic biology community has tried to be open about what it does with the public and encourages people to become involved in science. Through public lab space and DIY biology, synthetic biology has really lead the way in making science more accessible.

As a graduate student, I'm really excited at the role of synthetic biology as a tool to get people excited about science in general. I currently work on a construction and engineering of a biological tool that could reduce the financial and environmental cost of drug discovery and small molecule design. I'm very interested in Bio-hacking, DIY biology, and community labs.



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)


S196: Genetics and Genetic Modification in Splash 2012 (Mar. 31, 2012)
We've all heard of DNA, but what exactly is DNA and how is it decoded by the cell? This is a basic course about what DNA encodes and how we as scientists can take that code and make exciting and new things.