Christopher Voigt

Christopher Voigt is an American synthetic biologist, molecular biophysicist, and engineer. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Engineering] at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research interests focus on the reprogramming of bacterial organisms to perform coordinated, complex tasks for pharmaceutical and industrial applications. He is a member of the National Science Foundation-funded Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center, called SynBERC, and works in the developing field of synthetic biology. His recent works include:
Engineering a bacterial two-component system to regulate gene expression in response to red light.
Engineering bacteria to sense its environment and conditionally invade cancer cells either when the concentration of bacteria is large enough, when the environment has little oxygen (e.g., inside a tumor), or when a specific chemical is present.
Constructing a logical AND gate inside bacteria.
Current research projects use these new environmental sensors and logical switches to control the assembly and function of newly redesigned systems, such as a secretion needle that exports spider silk proteins or a photosynthetic apparatus responsible for converting light into chemical energy.
In 2006, he was named to the MIT Technology Review TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of ACS Synthetic Biology.