Laura Adam, Phd Email & Phone Number

• Established an enterprise informatics infrastructure for agile manufacturing of DNA molecules, creating and incorporating a novel algorithm for planning DNA manufacturing.• Architected scalable LIMS/LES solutions with automated data processing pipelines for QC.• Implemented serverless solutions based on custom Python libraries, SQL/NoSQL databases, Jira, deployed on GCP.Publications:• Substitution Attacks: A Catalyst to Reframe the DNA Manufacturing Cyberbiosecurity Landscape in the Age of Benchtop SynthesizersL Adam, GH McArthur IV - Applied Biosafety, 2024• Pending patent

Emeryville, California, Us

• Built Ansa’s informatics team to enable process development and commercialization around Ansa's proprietary Enzymatic DNA Synthesis technology. Hired, trained, and managed seven bioinformaticians, software engineers, data engineers, as well as several independent consultants.• Anticipated future needs in order to develop and drive solution-oriented software and data platforms.• Defined and managed team to deliver upon quarterly goals, assessed using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), that successfully balanced the company’s immediate development needs and the longer-term informatics vision.• Independently lead the design and implementation of novel data and computing infrastructure to enable data-driven process development.• Lead technical biosecurity efforts by evaluating DNA sequence screening tools and helping external partners design novel embedded solutions for synthesizers, participating to panels as an industry technical advisor, and representing Ansa at the International Gene Synthesis Consortium (IGSC).• Spearheaded planning for manufacturing platform for seamless transition from pure R&D to process development, optimization, and productization.• Integral contributor to core team as lone voice of informatics. Utilized a strong interdisciplinary background and close collaboration with a project manager to identify and address several cross-functional gaps across the organization.

Emeryville, California, Us

San Diego, Ca, Us

• Technical lead in Clinical Data Science for curating, harmonizing, and integrating clinical biomarker “omics” data to subject metadata from a large pharmaceutical company.• Hired, trained, and managed three data scientists. Established projects and defined standards of work for a team of ten PhDs.• Represented the Data Science team in an interdisciplinary, cross-company initiative to gather key requirements, identify use cases, model and evaluate a knowledge graph as an alternative to the current relational database.Publication:* Implementation of The FAIR Data Principles for Exploratory Biomarker Data from Clinical Trials. Data Intelligence (2021)

• Created eBiosec Inc.'s core technology, eBIO·OME, from conceptualization through deployment.• Designed, implemented, and deployed a web platform for molecular biology experiments data management and analysis based on a knowledge graph. The platform provides tools to manage, search and interactively visualize integrative data from designed sequences and strains to subsequently built samples to experimental data generated for testing hypotheses. The platform supports third party app integration.• Supported eBiosec Inc,’s successful spin-off from CoMotion at the University of Washington, utilizing funding through competitive fellowships.Publication:*Bioengineering horizon scan 2020. Elife. (2020)

• Designed and implemented full-stack, data intensive application to support an image analysis pipeline.• Wrote bespoke scripts to curate biomedical data from publicly available sources.• Wrote grant and managed software team to obtain preliminary results for the commercialization of an interactive bio simulation software.• Explored use of twitter data, image classifier and natural language processing tools to survey bioengineering around the world and implemented interactive geospatial data visualization.Some projects:*Rancho BioSciences: Clinical data wrangling in R, Biomedical data curation*Pacific Northwest Research Institute: design and implement a GUI for their image analysis workflow.*Biocellion, SPC: project lead to develop an interactive demo for Biocellion, a High-Performance Software for Modeling, Simulation and Visualization of Many-Cell Systems

Seattle, Wa, Us

Klavins Lab (http://klavinslab.org/), Synthetic Biology• Performed experimental design, hands-on wet lab data collection, and statistical analysis using a data from variety of lab instruments to study yeast growth modulated through genetic engineering.• Created a tool called archiYEAST that designs genetic constructs for implementing a desired phenotype and generates instructions for BioFab technicians to build and QC the corresponding strains. It utilizes machine learnt DNA assembly rules from the BioFab previous orders to provide a cost-effective methodology based on re-using DNA fragments.• Devised and experimentally fit a mathematical model for inducible yeast growth arrest in liquid culture. Successfully experimentally validated the model by make predictions for a yeast co-culture diagnostic system.• Created a domain-specific language to model (attribute graph grammars) and simulate (2D physics) engineered yeast spatiotemporal development. Ran simulations of genetically modified strains in parallel of microscopy-based assays for formal verification of yeast microcolony developmental programs.Publications:* A transatlantic perspective on 20 emerging issues in biological engineering. eLife. (2017)

• Framed the emerging concept of digital biothreats at the intersection of science policy and technology. Wrote several technical proposals and engaged with numerous key stakeholders.• Became technical referent for “cyber-biosecurity” and created the information-biosecurity.org hub. Presented numerous talks and was invited to participate in several international biosecurity panels.www.information-biosecurity.org

Blacksburg, Va, Us

Peccoud's Synthetic Biology lab (peccoud.vbi.vt.edu)• Conceptualized the use and design of “genetic languages” to create novel DNA constructs based on formal language theory.• Implemented the backend and data management system of GenoCAD, a web computer-aided platform for the design and predictive modeling of novel DNA part-based genetic systems. Designed the user-interface and managed the outsourcing of the front-end implementation.• Contributed to establishing the Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL) specifications that became a community standard.• Implemented and characterized the performance of a novel computational algorithm to screen DNA sequences for Select Agents and Toxins using parallel sequence alignments against large public databases based on a biosecurity policy guidance. Presented key learnings to FBI and other federal agencies upon invitation. Federal and UN agencies regularly mention this project as a model for the fruitful involvement of young scientists in global science policy matters.• Selected and advised two teams of 5-10 undergrad and graduate students from interdisciplinary backgrounds for the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition.• Judged the iGEM competition for six years.Publications:*The Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL) provides a community standard for communicating designs in synthetic biology. Nature Biotechnology. (2014)*Development of a domain-specific genetic language to design Chlamydomonas reinhardtii expression vectors. Bioinformatics (Oxford, England). (2013)*Strengths and limitations of the federal guidance on synthetic DNA. Nature Biotechnology. (2011)*A Step-by-Step Introduction to Rule-Based Design of Synthetic Genetic Constructs Using GenoCAD. Methods in Enzymology (2011)*Modeling structure-function relationships in synthetic DNA sequences using attribute grammars. PLoS computational biology. (2009)

Doctor Of Philosophy (Phd), Genetics, Bioinformatics, And Computational Biology

Graduate Certificate In The Politics And Policy Studies Of Science And Technology, Science And Technology Studies (Sts)

Master'S Degree, Computer Science And Applied Mathematics

Education record