Bryan earned his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Maryland in 2005 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 2010. His graduate work with Professor Christopher Chang focused on the synthesis and application of small molecule fluorescent probes for the detection of hydrogen peroxide in living systems. As a Jane Coffin Childs Memorial postdoctoral fellow with Professor David Liu at Harvard University, he developed new methods to rapidly evolve proteins to perform novel functions. Bryan's research program at Chicago will focus on the development of novel molecular technologies that report on chemical reactions in living systems in order to gain insights into mammalian metabolic regulation. This will involve building molecules, both small and large, via synthetic organic chemistry, protein engineering, and molecular evolution. Small molecule fluorescent probes that detect specific lysine modifications in live cells will elucidate the role of each reaction in regulating metabolic state. Protein sensors that encode chemical events into defined sequences of polynucleotides will enable high-throughput biochemical analyses of living systems using sequencing. Enzymes reprogrammed through evolution will generate novel approaches to perturb endogenous signaling events. Overall, research in the Dickinson group will be centered at the interface of chemistry, biology, and engineering, to spawn biological discovery through the development and application of new technology.