Technology Development Fellow

Harvard University

Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

Kevin's current research interests include enabling the controllable survival of engineered organisms in diverse environments, preventing the evolution of defined genetic sequences in living cells, and evolving targetable recombinase enzymes.

Kevin seeks to enable engineered organisms to perform useful sensory, therapeutic, and biocatalytic work in a variety of environments. At present, natural competitors drive modified organisms to extinction, while the evolution of mutant "cheaters" lacking the desired functions is a constant threat even in monocultures. To prevent extinction, he is currently experimenting with nutrient uptake in energy-limited environments as a possible avenue of providing selective fitness advantages. To guard against cheaters, he is exploring possible methods of detecting and then selecting against base substitutions, insertions, and deletions in defined genetic cassettes. Finally, he is applying the phage-assisted continuous evolution (PACE) system he developed in graduate school towards the evolution of targetable recombinases suitable for efficiently delivering modified genes.

2011 Harold M. Weintraub Award

2004-2009 Hertz Fellow

2004-2009 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow