Will is completing his PhD at Northwestern University in the labs of Dr. Josh Leonard and Dr. Gabe Rocklin, researching at the interface of mammalian synthetic biology and protein design to engineer new synthetic receptors and further our understanding of how they function. Prior to Northwestern, he worked at Amyris, a synthetic biology company aiming to produce renewable products through metabolic engineering, and before that he received his undergraduate degree in Biology from Carleton College. Outside of work, Will enjoys spending as much time as possible outside by playing soccer, biking around Chicago, and canoeing and fishing his way through northern Minnesota.

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HEALTHCARE ADVANCEMENT YOU HOPE TO SEE IN YOUR LIFETIME

I would love to see rare genetic disorders become more treatable. We’re still in the early stages of creating effective gene therapies, which is gaining greater clinical success year after year.

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GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT

Once catching an adult snapping turtle from a lake with my bare hands.

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GREATEST IMPACT IN TECH/HEALTH

We’re still in the early stages but beginning to see the fields of computational and de novo protein design take off. With the recent advancements in structural prediction from sequence alone, and design from protein language and diffusion models, I think that the protein engineering community is poised to make some incredible advancements for therapeutics and biotechnology within the next decade.