Lauren Andrews

Lauren Andrews, PhD

Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Massachusetts Amherst
N265 Life Sciences Laboratories
240 Thatcher Rd
Amherst MA 01003-9364

(413) 545-1660
lbandrews@umass.edu
www.umass.edu/engineering/about/directory/lauren-andrews

Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering

Marvin and Eva Schlanger Faculty Fellow in Chemical Engineering
 

  • Synthetic biology and genome engineering
  • Metabolic engineering of model and non-model bacteria
  • Synthetic gene networks and genetically-encoded biosensors
  • High-throughput tools for genetic design optimization

The Andrews Lab aims to uncover genetic design rules to reprogram regulation and metabolism in living cells for applications in health and biotechnology. To precisely control how a cell senses, remembers, and responds to its environment, we engineer synthetic gene networks and study their dynamics with experimental and modeling approaches. We develop high-throughput methodologies to build and interrogate large libraries of design variants using multiplexed DNA assembly, next-generation sequencing, and model-guided approaches to specify genetic diversity. This allows us to generate rich datasets that systematically and quantitatively investigate relationships between genetic composition of a design and its function in the context of the cell. With these tools and systems, our lab is working to advance the tremendous potential of harnessing living cells to autonomously sense and respond to their environment and utilize the remarkable biosynthetic machinery of biological systems to manufacture complex molecules.

Academic Background

Postdoc, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Biological Engineering and Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, MIT-Broad Foundry
PhD University of Colorado Boulder, Chemical Engineering, 2012
MS University of Colorado Boulder, Chemical Engineering, 2009
BS Cornell University, Chemical Engineering, 2006

  • Models to Medicine Center 
  • Microbiome, Microbes & Infectious Diseases (MMID)