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

Profile photo of Biki Kundu in a tan blazer in front of a brick wall.
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

Headshot of Chris Geiger sitting outside in a dark blue shirt
Dr. Chris Geiger

Tracking electrons within & between microbes

Wen-Chia Chen

Syn Bio, Bioelectronic pathway, & Microbiology

Dr. Marko Chavez

Characterizing bioelectronic materials

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

Tianmin Yang

Environmental cell signaling

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

Alumni