We take pride in being an interdisciplinary, collegial, collaborative, and diverse group of scientists.

If you’re interested in joining us, please view the Contact page.

15 members of the Caroline Ajo-Franklin group standing together at an oudoor restaurant at night with string lights above
Smiling headshot of Caroline Ajo-Franklin in a lab with many wires, wearing a blue dress with a pink cardigan.

Dr. Caroline Ajo-Franklin, Primary Investigator

I lead a group that forges new understanding and engineering strategies to interface microorganisms and materials. READ MORE

BioElectricians

&

BioMaterialists

Please click on headshots to learn more about our team and their projects.

Headshot of Chiagoziem Ngwadom in a black shirt with red bow tie
Chiagoziem Ngwadom:

Sense the senseless

Headshot of Biki Kundu in front of a tree
Biki Kundu:

Synthetic metabolism & respiration

Headshot of Jayashree in front of flowers
Dr. Jayashree Soman:

Lab Manager extraordinaire

Headshot of Marimikel Charrier who has brown and green hair in a jean jacket with funny pins
Marimikel Charrier:

Extracellular structures for materials

Headshot of Dr. Xu Zhang in a white lab coat reaching for a tool
Dr. Xu Zhang
Headshot of Dr. Rong Cai with her blonde dog in a field of sunflowers
Dr. Rong Cai
Headshot of Bobby Tesoriero in a tux
Bobby Tesoriero
Headshot of Esther Jimenez in front of a fountain with her corgi
Esther Jimenez

Living material design principles

Headshot of Robyn Alba in a dark sweater against a blue fence
Robyn Alba:

Bioelectronics & Biosensors

Headshot of Siliang Li in blue winter coat against a snowy forest
Siliang Li:

Probiotic diagnostics & therapeutics

Headshot of Swetha Sridhar in a colorful sari
Swetha Sridhar:

Microbe-mineral interactions

Headshot of Ha Chau Chloe Nguyen wearing a blue blouse on a white background
Ha Chau (Chloe) Nguyen:

Engineered Living Materials

Headshot of Carol De Groote Tavares in a red graduation cap
Carol De Groote Tavares

Electrogenetics in L. plantarum

Headshot of Matt Carpenter in a black suit with a blue checked shirt and blue tie
Matthew Carpenter

Electron transfer for biosensing

Olivia Suggs

Fundamental assembly of Engineered Living Materials

Carlson Nguyen

Rules For matrix engineering

Cartoon of a cell with an electrical signal through it on a grey spot

Wen-Chia Chen

Syn Bio, Bioelectronic pathway, & Microbiology

Cartoon of four cells connected with dotted lines on a grey spot

Cartoon of two cells connected by squiggle lines and arrows through it on a grey spot

Picture of nine people from Caroline Ajo-Franklin's group in the early days at the Molecular Foundry

Alumni