Jessica Walter Email and Phone Number

- Led a department of 35+ scientists focused on strain engineering of S. cerevisiae for sustainable chemistry using precision fermentation.- Set technical and strategic direction of the Biology department, including scientific guidance of project leaders within and across departments within R&D.

- Strain Technology Lead on a 2 year project to engineer multiple micro-organisms for manufacturing of a second nutritional product (a protein). We successfully achieved over 1000-fold higher concentrations of this protein in fermentations compared to the native source.

- Strain Technology Lead on a 4 year project to engineer a yeast strain for manufacturing of an infant nutrition product (Human Milk Oligosaccharides). Guided a team of 5-7 scientists to meet ambitious performance targets to dramatically reduce the cost of production. This class of small molecules was the first oligosaccharide to be produced at pilot plant scale at Amyris.

Metabolic and genetic engineering as an individual contributor and project leader.- Developed cutting edge genome editing technology in four micro-organisms.- Led project assaying in vivo generated biochemical diversity for oncogene inhibition in single yeast cells.- Managed five scientists and associate scientists toward career goals and growth.

Dr. Wendell Lim, HHMI and Dept. of Cellular and Molecular PharmacologyNIH National Research Service Award Postdoctoral FellowshipEngineered new subcellular compartments by constructing simple protein-based spatial circuits• Created first ever phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PIP3)-labeled vesicles in budding yeast to understand the role of phosphoinositides in organelle identity and as new membrane-bound compartments for biotechnology applications.• Validated computational model predictions for the robustness of self-organizing polarization networks by constructing and analyzing synthetic PIP3-generating spatial circuits using microscopy and Matlab.• Developed spatial “programming language” for the production of self-organizing PIP3 polarization through identification of catalytic mutants and truncations and domain recombination.• Mentored two graduate students during their rotations; maintained, supported and trained new users on confocal and epi-fluorescence microscopes.

Dr. Jan Liphardt, Physics DepartmentNSF Graduate Research FellowshipStudied the physics of proton pump and molecular motor using microscopy and magnetic tweezers• Engineered light-powered motion in bacteria using proteorhodopsin, a light-powered proton pump, and demonstrated its metabolic benefit under stressful respiratory conditions.• Altered budding yeast morphology and anaerobic growth by expressing proteorhodopsin in internal membranes and mitochondria, supplementing cell growth with light.• In collaboration with scientists in Dr. Carlos Bustamante’s lab, determined that the bacteriophage φ29 connector does not rotate during DNA packaging using Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy, polarized fluorescence and magnetic tweezers.• Supervised one undergraduate for one year; mentored three graduate student rotations.

Dr. Mark Marsh, Laboratory for Molecular Cell BiologyNSF Graduate Research Fellowship• Set up Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP) to study the diffusion of CCR5 and CD4 receptors in mammalian cell membranes thereby illuminating the role of cytoskeletal attachment in HIV particle endocytosis.

Physics DepartmentPlanned, executed and supervised introductory Physics discussion and lab for undergraduate students (Thermodynamics/Electricity & Magnetism, Physics for Future Presidents). Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor award, 2002.

Department of Electronic and Computer EngineeringWrote and delivered lectures, planned, taught and graded labs and discussion sections on basic electrodynamics to classes ranging in size from fifteen to one hundred students. Departmental Teaching Award, 2001.