The Dudley lab will be researching sustainable production of useful biomolecules with a particular focus on cell-free and plant synthetic biology.

I developed a practical vision and roadmap for cell-free biomanufacturing to synthesize molecules without the constraints of fully living systems. Speculative Technologies is a nonprofit that is building towards an abundant, wonder-filled future by running coordinated research programs to unlock materials and manufacturing technologies that don’t have a home in other institutions.

- Led the analytical chemistry team for verification of metabolite production, ideated metabolic engineering pathways for customer-based small molecule chemistries for synthesis in a plant-based bioproduction system (listed as inventor on three provisional patent applications)

Plant-based production of the cancer drug precursor strictosidine- postdoc jointly mentored by Dr Nicola Patron at the Earlham Institute and Dr Sarah O'Connor at the John Innes Center / Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology- coordinated a complex 3-year genome engineering project involving two academic labs, an industrial partner, and three additional academic collaborators to improve the wild tobacco Nicotiana benthamiana for production of medicinal alkaloids. The project synthesized RNAseq transcriptomics, Biofoundry assisted protein screening, metabolomics of pathway intermediates, and reassembly of the host plant genome. - built and validated a pipeline for Biofoundry-assisted cell-free enzyme screening including a DNA assembly toolbox and automated liquid handling protocols utilizing the Labcyte Echo as well as conventional pipette-based robotics- optimized the 14-step metabolic pathway to the anticancer drug precursor strictosidine enabling >1 mg/g(DW) production in N. benthamiana. This is the first time the complete pathway has been assembled in a single heterologous plant and opens new opportunities for biological production of diverse medicinal monoterpene indole alkaloids and their analogs.

Prototying of the isopenoid biosynthetic pathway using cell-free protein synthesis- completed a PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering in the laboratory of Dr Michael Jewett- Molecular Biophysics Training Program Trainee- developed a high throughput prototyping method using cell-free protein synthesis to optimize to a nine-step metabolic pathway, testing hundreds of combinations of enzymes, and outlining a workflow for accelerating metabolic engineering Design-Build-Test cycles. This effort identified new homologs of mevalonate pathway enzymes that improved production of the fragrance and flavoring terpenoid limonene. - collaborated with the Milan Mrksich lab (Northwestern) to adapt a high-throughput mass spectrometry technique to measure the CoA-bound isoprenoid pathway intermediates and subsequently characterized >800 reaction conditions - built set of E. coli strains using CRISPR-directed Multiplex Advanced Genome Engineering (CR-MAGE) to add affinity tags to native enzymes so that unwanted (but growth-essential) metabolic pathway steps could then be removed from the extract during cell lysis.

- completed a Master's of Science in Agricutural and Biological Systems Engineering mentored by Dr. Adam Liska- quantified the uncertainty within methods for calculating the carbon footprint of beef cattle and proposed new framework for incorporating indirect land use change into the life cycle assessment of livestock emissions.

- researched interactions between surface chemistry and nonviral gene (DNA) transfer in various cell lines in the lab of Dr Angela Pannier

- conducted research on interactions between fatty-acid coated magnetite nanoparticles and various polymers using TGA and FTIR spectroscopy.

- Facilitated freshman transition to university life. Gave campus tours, performed informative skits, registered new students for classes, and assisted with public relations.