Even before Professor Jennifer Doudna  won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the groundbreaking discovery of the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors, Cal has been a leader in gene editing and synthetic biology. Techniques developed here have been applied on everything from creating sweeter less perishable fruit, to sustainable jet fuel, to curing genetic diseases. Yet how does our operating system of cells and proteins interpret DNA code to modify the biological world? Han Teng Wong⁩ and Eugene Noh⁩ will⁩ break down synthetic biology, CRISPR/Cas9, metabolic engineering, and their incredible potential to transform a broad range of industries from agriculture to human health!ld.

More on the panelists:
Han Teng Wong Ph.D. '19
Han Teng received his Bachelors in Biology from Imperial College London before embarking on his PhD in Microbiology at University of California at Berkeley. During his graduate studies with Professor Danielle Tullman-Ercek, he worked on engineering microbial secretion systems in Salmonella for protein production using synthetic biology tools. After graduation, Han Teng joined the Molecular Engineering Lab where he sought to create more thermostable and sweeter sweet proteins using machine learning guided protein engineering. Outside of the lab, Han Teng is an advisor for Biotech Connection Singapore as well as a Hello Tomorrow Innovation Curator, looking to build ecosystems for both biotech and deep tech space in Singapore

Eugene Noh '95
Over the last 10 years, Eugene Noh has been building and launching deep tech startups in Silicon Valley and Asia. He is currently working as a strategic advisor to KAIST Holdings in South Korea. Eugene was a Deputy Director at NUS Enterprise for three years (2020-2023), where he served as the head of the National Lean LaunchPad backed by the National Research Foundation that trained academic researchers at NUS, NTU, SUTD and SMU to commercialize their research. Before joining NUS, Eugene was at UC Berkeley for seven years (2013-2020) where he played an instrumental role in building the startup ecosystem during this formative period. He most recently served as the Program Director of the Bay Area NSF I-Corps Node, training over 400 regional teams and over 70 national teams. Before that, he managed a deep tech accelerator (CITRIS Foundry) for university spinouts. Along the way, Eugene has been a regular speaker at the top Korean universities and has provided entrepreneurship training to Philippine universities through the UN Development Program.

Tickets are limited, so sign up early if you’re interested. Refreshments will be served.