I currently focus on agnostic biosensing and on control systems for biological networks. Agnostic biosensing is the detection of pathogens that have never been encountered before. Fielding such systems that can detect pathogens before humans are infected will be critical not only for preventing the next pandemic but for protecting the US from engineered biothreats. Under the Friend or Foe program, we have already transitioned systems for detecting bacterial pathogens, but we need to continue the work, making the systems portable and expanding the initial work on the agnostic detection of viruses. Secondly, sophisticated phenomena in biology are mostly associated with networks of interactions that unfold over time. In much of my portfolio, I have pushed the limits of bioelectronics, synthetic biology, and synthetic ecology to establish spatiotemporal control of these network, addressing biological phenomena ranging from wound healing (BETR program), the controlled production of therapeutics in vivo (ADAPTER), turning biofilms into functional living paint (Arcadia), and will soon announce a new program, Ceres, that will produce a scalable biological solution to environmental contamination.Prior to DARPA, I directed the Surface Nanoscience and Sensor Technology Section at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. This highly interdisciplinary team comprised biochemists, chemists, engineers, and physicists who studied nanometer scale phenomena at surfaces, as well as bioelectronics for sensing and biotic/abiotic interfaces. The team focused on discovering and developing new materials that could advance electronics and biosensing.Dr. Sheehan was a University Fellow at the University of North Carolina where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry-based Materials Science. After receiving his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Chemical Physics from Harvard University, he served as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory. He is a fellow of the AVS.