Northwestern CSB

Nothing brings people together better than an "Olympics" competition! Nice job CSB team. #CSBretreat2026

It's hard not to be inspired by our wonderful trainees and their research. Thanks to all of those who shared their work during today's #CSBretreat2026.

Thanks to Xav Bower for highlighting the CSB Trainee Association (CTA) Board and the vibrant community participating in weekly "jam session" workshops on agentic coding. In less than two months, these workshops have already attracted trainees from 10 different labs!

"People are very confident that disease induces changes in the microbiome, but the field has moved to what I would argue is a much more important question: Does the microbiome truly affect disease?" @mark_mimee, assistant professor at @UChicagoPME #CSBretreat2026

We're continuing our 10-year anniversary celebration with a CSB retreat today, but goodness we're still feeling the excitement from yesterday's festivities. Thanks to everyone who attended and participated!

What a phenomenal way to end today's 10-year anniversary celebration! Thank you to @NorthwesternEng dean Christopher Schuh, keynote speaker Christopher Voigt, and our new Executive Advisory Board panelists for a fascinating discussion on the future of synthetic biology.

Special congratulations to CSB Distinguished Trainee Award recipients Rachel Mizenko and Dylan Brown, who talked through their research today and helped us look to the future of synthetic biology. Great job to both of you!

We're so proud of our CSB Distinguished Trainee Award recipients! Congrats to you all, and thank you for being a part of our 10-year anniversary celebration!!

"Dynamic groups of talented, collaborative individuals possess an incredible ability to drive innovation." Thanks to co-founding director @MichaelCJewett for emphasizing the importance of community as he looked back at the launch and history of the CSB here at @NorthwesternU.

10 years of evolution here at the CSB at @NorthwesternU, by the numbers: - $50+ million in funding - 49,000+ collective citations (more than 40,000 in the past five years) - 80+ patents and patent applications - 200+ community events - 700+ trainees

"We have to empower our researchers to take risks and innovate. That mission guided the creation of the center and its researchers continue to push the boundaries of discovery every single day." Thanks to @DickDurbin for sharing a message at our 10-year anniversary celebration.

We're so excited to celebrate our 10-year anniversary today and tomorrow, and thanks to @NorthwesternU Interim President Henry Bienen for kicking off the festivities. "It's a milestone period," he said, "both for this center and the university itself."

CSB faculty member Jonathan Rivnay is harnessing synthetic biology, bioelectronics, regenerative engineering, and materials science to merge living systems with electronics - creating "living pharmacies" that sense and respond with targeted therapeutics. bit.ly/4nfkIuU

@NUSynBio's Jonathan Rivnay co-led a breakthrough study developing an implantable “living pharmacy” that produces multiple biologic drugs directly inside the body.This work moves us closer to long-lasting, self-regulating therapies for chronic disease. bit.ly/4shWMIg

Attention local HS students and undergrads! We are accepting applications for our ☀️ Summer 2026 AEOP Internship Programs ☀️ through April 15th. @aeopIandF syntheticbiology.northwestern.edu/education/unde…

We are proud to share that CSB's Sera Young was featured in the Walder Foundation's March 2026 newsletter. The Foundation's President & CEO, Elizabeth Walder, highlighted Sera's work in the foreward! bit.ly/4rPWyrN

We are incredibly proud to share that CSB member Sera Young, Professor of Anthropology at Northwestern, was included in the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry's Women in Energy exhibit! Check it out while you can! griffinmsi.org/exhibits/women…

🧬🚀 DNA sequencing… in space. Last month, NASA astronaut & microbiologist Dr. Kate Rubins visited Northwestern to share her experience aboard the International Space Station—where she became the first person to sequence DNA in space. bit.ly/4br0cTS #NASA #Synbio

What if molecules could sense, compute, and solve problems? On @IINanoNU Nanoscape podcast, CSB co-director Julius Lucks explores the “RNA multiverse”—a hidden nanoscale world where molecules twist, fold, and act like living machines. bit.ly/40MR3ii @LucksLab